Where does Bernd Leno rank among Fulham’s best Premier League goalkeepers?
When our German shot-stopper grabbing his first assist for Fulham in the loss against Aston Villa last month, it marked another milestone in what has been a solid tenure in between the sticks for Bernd Leno. His numbers have been great during his time in West London, however where does he rank amongst the others to wear the gloves in SW6 in the Premier League?
Podium place for appearances
Leno is our third-longest serving number one in the top flight for the Whites. Above him is the legendary Edwin Van Der Sar Who was the number one for the Whites for three and a half seasons from the 2001/02 Premier League season to the 2004/05 season, with Maik Taylor starting half of the games in the 2002/03 season with the Dutchman.
In first place, however, with four seasons in goal is Mark Schwarzer. Our Aussie shot-stopper was in goal from the 2008/09 season to the 2012/13 season, in the latter stages of his career before he went on to Chelsea and retired at Leicester.
The numbers
Leno has kept 19 clean sheets during his 83 games and counting in goal for the Whites, conceding 124 goals and making 307 saves. This equates to 3.70 saves per match and a 71.23% save success rate, with the stopper having also saved one penalty. In comparison Schwarzer kept 56 clean sheets and conceded 210 goals while making 597 saves during his 233 games in goal. This equates to 3.47 saves per match and a 73.98% save success rate and four penalty saves.
EVDS kept 42 clean sheets for the Whites in 127 games, conceding 154 goals. In terms of the final league positions of the teams that the three respective goalkeepers played in, Schwarzer’s was the highest on average with Van Der Sar close behind.
More to come?
Leno has kept fewer clean sheets on average in comparison to Schwarzer and Van Der Sar and has conceded more goals on average, though he has a better saves-per-match rate than Schwarzer. This indicates that he’s still languishing behind the two, and although I am fairly young to judge with regards to Van Der Sar’s tenure at the club, both Schwarzer and EVDS were probably bigger household names when they were at Fulham.
But none of that diminishes what Bernd Leno has done during his time at the club so far, overtaking most of our other Premier League goalkeepers with stats and notoriety and contributing hugely, partiuclarly considering how small his price tag was, almost matching the of Edwin Van Der Sar when he was bought to the club.
And Leno is only 32. He’s got time to cement his legacy at Craven Cottage, should he want that to be the case. He could easily climb into second or either first spot – and that undoubtedly mean huge success for the club on the pitch.
