Bruno Guimaraes believes that Nick Pope is the best goalkeeper in the world after keeping his 10th consecutive clean sheet. With a little advantage going into the second leg of the Carabao Cup semifinal against the Saints, Newcastle was able to carry on thanks to their most recent clean sheet. Pope has not lost since November 6, or 79 days ago, when Southampton’s Romain Perraud scored a late consolation goal in a 4-1 loss to Eddie Howe’s team. Pope hasn’t lost in 10 games and 901 minutes, and the only goals Newcastle has allowed in that span came in the 2-1 FA Cup loss to Sheffield Wednesday, when Martin Dubravka took Pope’s place.
It’s an unparalleled streak of clean sheets because no goalie with a Premier League team has ever kept a clean sheet in 10 straight games across all competitions since August 2012 (when Opta started recording the statistics). In those 10 games, Pope has had to make 20 stops, including three against St Mary’s, the best of which was to stop Che Adams from scoring as he ran through the defense. Only Lawrence Vigouroux of Leyton Orient has more (17) clean sheets this season among English league goalies than Pope’s total of 16 for Newcastle in all competitions.
“I want to thank Nick Pope for everything. He is the best goalie in the world and has excelled for us,” Bruno Guimaraes said about Nick Pope.
“When the statistic about 10 games and 10 clean sheets appeared, I had to take a second look. It’s amazing. Any goalkeeper in the world would be excited if they had it,” former Newcastle goalkeeper Shay Given said. “At Palace, he is present for crucial occasions, and tonight when Adams broke through, he makes a significant block. He instils such trust in his colleagues. The very best? It’s debatable, but he’s now enjoying his best stretch of the form of his career.”
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