Title-winning keepers ranked: Only Man Utd win the Premier League with a bad goalkeeper

 Can Chelsea win the title with Robert Sanchez in the sticks? Our ranking of Premier League-winning goalkeepers suggests it is unlikely.

Chelsea are fancied by many to push Arsenal in the title race – but not if they don’t upgrade their goalie.

Looking back at the keepers who have won Premier League titles, it is clear you need a safe pair of hands to finish top in May. Unless you are Sir Alex Ferguson’s all-conquering Manchester United at the turn of the century.

Here is our entirely subjective ranking of the title-winning no.1s.

15) Mark Bosnich

Bosnich,

“a terrible professional”, according to Ferguson

, is widely remembered as one of the worst signings of the great manager’s era.

Going from Peter Schmeichel to Bosnich represents one of the biggest downgrades of the Premier League era. But, highlighting their dominance at the time, United still won the title in 1999-2000 by 18 points with him in their goal.

14) Fabien Barthez

Ferguson appeared to have found his replacement for Schmeichel in the France World Cup winner, with his first season in 2000-01 being brilliant fun capped off with a third consecutive title for United. Barthez was a huge hit – until he wasn’t.

His second season saw Barthez make more mistakes but Ferguson considered the risk to be worth the reward. In his third campaign, Fergie’s patience finally snapped and Barthez was bombed out after the defeat to Real Madrid in the Champions League. Roy Carroll came in during the Premier League run in to get United over the line and Barthez was packed off back to Marseille.

13) Joe Hart

The way he was cast aside by Pep Guardiola makes it too easy too forget how good Hart was for City in the early days under Abu Dhabi ownership.

The then undisputed England no.1 was a major factor in their first Premier League title under Roberto Mancini – the Agueeeeerrrrrooooo one – all the while being named in the PFA Team of the Year. Hart won another with Manuel Pellegrini in 2014-15, but his form was less impressive, prompting a seven-game spell on the bench.

12) David De Gea

De Gea’s ranking here is a reflection on his influence on Ferguson’s last title-winning team, and not some of the brilliant seasons that followed.

In that 2012-13 side, De Gea spent much of the season still struggling to cement his place as no.1. If United had better alternatives than Anders Lindegaard, maybe he wouldn’t have, having spent much of the first half of the season on the bench. But De Gea seemed to grow – in physique and stature – as the second half of the season progressed and was eventually voted into the PFA Team of the Year.

11) Thibaut Courtois

Two titles for Courtois but arguably his biggest achievement at Chelsea was usurping the no.2 on this list as the Blues’ no.1. Jose Mourinho recognised the need for Courtois to come in after three seasons on loan at Atletico Madrid – a big call since Petr Cech was in the PFA Team of the Year the season before.

The Belgian calmly filled Cech’s gloves, winning the title in his first season as Chelsea’s first choice, before claiming the Golden Glove along with his second title under Antonio Conte in 2016-17 prior to agitating for his Real Madrid move..

10) Jens Lehmann

Mad Jens turned up in 2003 and Arsenal didn’t lose a Premier League game until his 50th appearance…

Lehmann was signed to replace David Seaman; a bigger contrast in styles you will struggle to find, but the German went on to play every minute of Arsenal’s Invincible season winning the Golden Glove as an integral part of Wenger’s history boys.