From headers, reactions, or double saves: what type of save tends to win the hearts of Premier League voters?
The Castrol Premier League Save of the Season Award began in the 2021/22 season. Since then, there have been three winners, voted for by fans on the Premier League website and app, alongside a “panel of football experts”.
Each year, eight to 10 saves are shortlisted. From these lists, we can get a better idea about which types of stops are popularly viewed more favourably than others. Let’s take a look at the first three seasons to see if we can find any recurring patterns.
To begin, we'll theorise some some basic save categories based on the Save of the Season shortlists over the last three years.* There are a few different ways of doing this, but the below five categories capture all of the shortlisted saves in some capacity.
- Close range reaction (strike from feet, any height, within c12 yards)
- Headers (any distance and height)
- Long range strike, high diving save
- Long range strike, low diving save
- Multiple saves
Jordan Pickford was the first to win the Save of the Season award in 2022 after his diving save against Chelsea. Following Mason Mount’s shot, which struck the post, the ball deflected to the other side of the box, where Cesar Azpilicueta seemingly had an open goal.
However, the Everton goalkeeper was on hand to spin, race across the goal to his far post and use both hands in a sprawling parry to stop the ball going in. This was one of the 10 stops shortlisted for the award during that campaign.
Out of the 2021/22 season nominees, it was saves from headers that were most commonly nominated for the award. 40% (4/10) save nominations were from headed efforts. These were often from less than 12 yards out, and included a variety of save techniques (from one handed diving stops to reactive blocks with feet).
One-handed stops from close-range attempts were also common on the shortlist. Out of the other nine saves put forward for the accolade, seven were one-handed stops. The majority of these were from close range, including Nick Pope’s low reflex block to deny Aston Villa’s Bertrand Traoré and Bernd Leno's reactive spring to his left to claw a Lukaku header onto the crossbar.
There were several outstanding saves featured in the shortlisting not from headers. Aaron Ramsdale’s flying high diving save, using an outstretched left hand to palm James Maddison’s free-kick onto the bar, was included in the list and could have easily won the award ahead of Pickford.
Ramsdale’s heroics prompted former Manchester United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel to post on X, “Best save I’ve seen for years by Ramsdale.” The other non-one handed stop in the shortlist was David De Gea’s double save against Wolves, where he denied Romain Saïss with both his hands and feet in quick succession from inside the six-yard box.
There was slightly more variety in the 2022/23 season in terms of the types of saves shortlisted.
About 38% of saves (3/8 nominations) were close range reaction saves. One of these was Gavin Bazunu’s save against Liverpool when the ball was played across the box to Mohamed Salah for an apparently open goal, but the Southampton goalkeeper was quick to sniff out the danger and deny the Egyptian forward.
Others included Nick Pope's tip over the bar from Jean-Philippe Mateta's quick swivel and strike level with the penalty spot, and Aaron Ramsdale's sprawling save as Dango Ouattara smashed a shot against the Englishman inches away from his hands.
The winning save, however, came from a triple Kepa Arrizabalaga stop, which comprised an excellent longer range low diving save from the top of the box, a quick close range recovery and another reaction save from the follow up.
Luton Town’s Thomas Kaminski won the most recent edition of the award for his double save against Crystal Palace. There was plenty of debate about this choice, given the quality of the other nominations.
However, it was headers once again that forced the most nominated saves. 44%, or 4/9 nominated saves, came from headers.
Alisson’s reflex save against Newcastle early in the season was one of the strongest nominations not to win. He managed to claw Miguel Almiron’s powerful shot onto the bar before parrying the ball away from goal. After the match, Newcastle manager Eddie Howe was stunned by the quality of the save by the Brazilian goalkeeper.
He said: “Alisson’s save, for Almiron's shot, was the best I’ve ever seen in my life." What was unique about this stop was that Alisson was able to use both of his hands to deny Almiron from close range.
Like in previous years, the 2023/24 campaign saw a heavy emphasis on one-handed stops. Apart from Kaminski and Alisson’s saves, the other seven were made with one hand, displaying impressive reflexes.
Mark Flekken and Matz Sels both made the list with low saves on the line to stop the ball creeping in from a chance coming from a deep cross. Other saves on the list included reaction stops from Robert Sanchez and Andre Onana following sharp strikes from inside the penalty area.
There are many conclusions to draw from the saves that have won the award to date, but also from the stops that have been shortlisted. Those from headers, often made with one hand, are the most popular nominations by far every year. They are the most common in every shortlist that has been compiled so far. A cynical perspective might classify these as ‘camera saves’, which can be perceived by the mainstream media as a goalkeeper making a save look much harder than it actually is.
Of course, it is much more complicated than this, and in many cases, a goalkeeper making a spectacular one-handed save is an example of them using the ‘right hand’ based on what was needed in a specific situation.
Even though sharp, reflex stops with one hand, headers, and close range reaction saves alone are common in the shortlists, they have not won the award every year. In terms of winners, double saves take the crown. It should be said, however, that Kepa and Kaminski's saves both comprised elements of other save types.
*The categories or estimations in this article are not associated with the work of Goalkeeper.com ‘xG’.
