De Gea moves top of the charts

Nine first-team players were ruled out of Sunday’s trip to the East Midlands, a number which soon grew when it became apparent Marcel Sabitzer had sustained a problem during the warm-ups.

But Erik ten Hag’s men ran out comfortable winners over the relegation strugglers in the end, with a goal in each half – the first finished by Antony, the second created by the Brazilian winger, for Diogo Dalot – settling proceedings.

The Reds could have added more to the final tally, while at the other end of the pitch David De Gea was untroubled in goal.

For the first time in the league this season, United’s no.1 didn’t face a shot on target all game, while Forest’s total of 0.7 xG (expected goals) was the lowest a home side has managed against us since Crystal Palace back in January.

It may have been a quiet afternoon by the banks of the River Trent for David then, but it was still a meaningful one for the Spaniard as he kept his 14th clean sheet from 30 games in 2022/23.

He now sits alone at the top of the Premier League’s Golden Glove rankings, passing the tally of 13 managed by Newcastle stopper Nick Pope.

Although there are still eight games to go, David now looks well-placed to claim the award for the second time in his United career.

He previously won back in 2017/18, arguably his annus mirabilis at Old Trafford, managing 18 shutouts that season under Jose Mourinho as we finished runners-up.

And David has recovered from a difficult start to the campaign to once again challenge for goalkeeping honours in the division.

The Reds conceded six across defeats to Brighton and Brentford in the opening weeks of the season, but tight, defensively sound 1-0 wins at struggling Southampton and Leicester helped right the ship and get De Gea off the mark.

Old Trafford has become something of a fortress under Erik ten Hag and consecutive clean sheets against Newcastle, Tottenham and West Ham followed prior to the World Cup. The run then picked up after the tournament, with Nottingham Forest, Wolves – at Molineux - and Bournemouth all failing to breach our defence.

Those results took David to eight clean sheets by the turn of the year but the next six have been added since mid-February.

Everyone at the club is keen to forget the defeats at Liverpool and Newcastle, but our goal has been unblemished in every other match in that sequence, which has included vital wins to nil at Leeds and Forest plus home successes over Leicester, Brentford and Everton.

The 0-0 draw at home to Southampton, where a couple of second-half stops from David proved crucial following Casemiro’s early red card, is the other game in the list, in a season where De Gea has overtaken Peter Schmeichel’s long-standing club record for clean sheets.

De Gea is currently on 186 United shutouts, as he pulls increasingly clear of Schmeichel on 180.

Another goalkeeping great in Edwin van der Sar is the only other Red to win the Golden Glove since it was introduced in 2004/05.

The Dutch giant kept an extraordinary 21 clean sheets in 33 games during the title-winning campaign of 2008/09, a term which included a record-breaking run of 1,311 minutes on the pitch without conceding.

2022/23 PL CLEAN SHEETS (CS)

*Stats correct at 11:00 BST, 17 April 2023.