FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022: Who will be England’s number 1 at Qatar 2022?

With another football season nearing the finish line and all the competitions coming to their final stages, the fans are starting to look toward the World Cup in Qatar.

The World Cup isn’t all that far away now and whilst England rank among the favorites there is one position in particular; that’s between the sticks.

Here we’re looking at who will be England’s number 1 at Qatar 2022.

The background

Since Gareth Southgate has been England’s manager he’s had no qualms about calling Jordan Pickford his number one goalkeeper. In many ways, you can see why because Pickford has never let England down whilst wearing the Three Lions on his chest.

What has been a bone of controversy though is that Pickford’s form at the club level, where he plays for Everton, has largely been erratic at best. That then opens up a debate as to whether player loyalty or current form should be the basis for picking the England team.

 

So, who are the goalkeeping options?

Jordan Pickford

Right, we’ve touched on Jordan Pickford already and he’s the obvious place to start in respect of who might be England’s number one come Qatar 2022. The big tick in his box is his international experience. He’s played – and performed well – at major international tournaments where England has gone deep into the competition and, in all, he has 43 caps to his name.

Where the doubts start to creep in are based on how he performs for his club and, perhaps more importantly, where he plays his club football next season. Everton is very much in danger of relegation from the Premier League. If they do fall through the trap door does he need to move to keep his place as Southgate’s first team?

Even then, you would think that form has to come into the decision-making at some point. Pickford is currently conceding 1.73 goals per game, which is one of the worst rankings in the Premier League.

Now, you can easily point out he’s got a leaky backline in front of him but at 66.4% Pickford also has one of the worst saves per shot ratios in the division; in fact, in that area, he ranks lowest of all English goalkeepers. On top of that, his ability to stop crosses sits at 6.4% – for context, that puts him in the bottom third of Premier League keepers.

Top 10 Goalkeepers in EPL Right Now

Aaron Ramsdale

The next key contender for the keeper’s jersey ahead of Qatar 2022 is Arsenal goalie Aaron Ramsdale. Ramsdale’s £30m move from Sheffield United raised eyebrows in the summer but it’s proved a fantastic piece of business from the Gunners.

Ramsdale quickly dislodged Bernd Leno as the number one and, actually, beyond Arsenal he is not only being recognized as an impressive goalkeeper but his personality and leadership skills are making him every neutral favorite shot-stopper. The other thing to consider is that Ramsdale could well be playing in the Champions League next season against some of the best in the world; that might be a factor Southgate looks at if he’s on the fence.

From a statistical standpoint, Ramsdale seems to be in great form. He’s conceding just over one goal per match at 1.07, which is the fifth-lowest in the league and the lowest goals against per game of all the English keepers, and that’s also true of his save percentage of 72.1%. The only difference here is that’s the fourth-best in the league and sees him rank above the likes of Chelsea’s Edouard Mendy and Man United’s David De Gea. His cross-stopping ability is 9.2%.

 

Nick Pope

Like Pickford, Nick Pope is another goalkeeper embroiled in the Premier League relegation battle and, as such, all the question marks over the league he’ll be playing in at the time of the Qatar 2022 squad announcement have to come into the thinking.

Statistically, Pope measures up nicely enough – certainly comparably to Pickford; the Burnley keeper has recorded nine clean sheets and, on average, concedes 1.26 goals per game.

As for his ability to make saves, Pope is making 3.1 saves per game with a save ratio of 67.1%. He also holds the best cross-stopping percentage of all English keepers in the top flight at 9.5% – that’s the fourth-best in the league.

Despite that, the chance of him being Southgate’s starter at Qatar is highly unlikely. At 30-years-old he has only made eight senior appearances and one area that will definitely be viewed as a negative for him is his ability with his feet; 92.5% of his goal kicks are launched with his passing also seeing a higher ‘launch’ rate than the other keepers mentioned above whilst the average length of his pass is 53.3m – Ramsdale’s is 36.9m. On top of that, history would suggest that Pope is not all that fancied by Southgate.

Wildcard picks

Before we sign off, we thought we’d touch on a couple of wildcard picks. Fraser Forster could currently be described as England’s fourth choice. In the unlikely event of a mass injury crisis and disastrous loss of form, he could sneak into the picture if he impresses. More likely to appear from the left-field though is Dean Henderson. He’s likely to leave Man United in the summer and a solid start to the campaign will definitely see him come into consideration.

 

Our view

If the World Cup was tomorrow, England’s number one at Qatar 2022 would be Jordan Pickford based on loyalty from Southgate. Fast forward to the launch of the tournament though and we’ve got a sneaky suspicion Aaron Ramsdale might gazump him.