He didn’t have much to do at St Mary’s on Saturday, but Martin Dubravka has been by FAR the busiest Premier League goalkeeper this season.
As the latest numbers show, the Slovakian has made considerably more saves (117) than any other top flight stopper so far this term – statistics that further back up his case to be named Newcastle United’s player of the season for 2019/20:
While the numbers don’t reflect well on our defence, suggesting we would’ve been in deep trouble without his brilliance, it proves how influential he’s been in between the sticks.
He’s only had two saves of note to make in our last two league games against Southampton and Burnley, however he’s regularly been the difference, keeping us in the game in draws we deserved to lose or coming up trumps to preserve our lead and give us all 3 points.
It’s not just the volume of saves he’s made this season, it’s the quality and timing of them, with him also being a calming influence at the back, quick off his line and superb at commanding his box.
The numbers suggest we’re very solid at the back, with only Liverpool conceding less goals at home than us so far, but it would’ve been a totally different story without his countless number of top class performances.
No matter how many times Saint-Maximin may win us a game between now and mid May, our player of the season has to be Mr.Dubravka.
After all, we’d be in deep trouble and right in the midst of a relegation battle without him.
