De Gea confirmed as Golden Glove winner

Our no.1 went into the Bournemouth game with two more clean sheets than his closest competitor, Alisson, who needed to shut out Liverpool's opponents in their final two fixtures to even have a chance of sharing the accolade.

A goal from Aston Villa's Jacob Ramsey after 27 minutes at Anfield, to give his side a deserved 1-0 lead at half-time, ended the race on Saturday afternoon. Meanwhile, De Gea was in action on the south coast, preventing the opposition from scoring for the 17th occasion in the Premier League this season as his team won 1-0.

It's the second time United's long-serving goalkeeper has won the Golden Glove award, following his success in 2017/18 when he kept 18 clean sheets.

While our no.1 will deservedly collect the Golden Glove at the end of the campaign, he will be the first to acknowledge that shutting out the opposition takes a real team effort from all of the players, not least the defenders.

A variety of Reds have featured in the back four this season. Lisandro Martinez and Raphael Varane were mainstays in the centre until their injuries, although the latter has recently returned to action. 

In Varane's absence, left-back Luke Shaw was a revelation when filling in alongside Victor Lindelof. Club captain Harry Maguire has also played in front of De Gea of course, during the current campaign.

Diogo Dalot and Aaron Wan-Bissaka have been alternating in the right-back role, although the Portuguese international has also appeared at left-back, as has Tyrell Malacia, when Shaw has moved into the middle or been unavailable.

The Spaniard has pulled off some magnificent stops for the Reds in 2022/23, including the Premier League's Save of the Month for February when he clawed Kelechi Iheanacho's header off the line as United beat Leicester City 3-0 at Old Trafford.

His award-winning haul of clean sheets has been kept at the expense of Southampton (1-0, 0-0), Leicester City (1-0, 3-0), Newcastle United (0-0), Tottenham Hotspur (2-0), West Ham United (1-0), Nottingham Forest (3-0, 2-0), Wolverhampton Wanderers (1-0, 2-0), Bournemouth (3-0, 1-0), Leeds United (2-0), Brentford (1-0), Everton (2-0) and Aston Villa (1-0).

De Gea will beat his record of 18 Premier League clean sheets from 2017/18 if he shuts out Chelsea on Thursday night and Fulham next Sunday, 28 May. The Reds have only conceded eight goals at home this season - no other team in the top flight has let in less than 10, with Newcastle boasting the next best tally of 14.

Congratulations on your accolade, Dave!