PL stat shows De Gea's amazing consistency
David De Gea is enjoying a stellar campaign in the Manchester United goal.
The Spaniard has been widely recognised as one of our leading lights on the pitch this term - fans voted him the club's top performer in both November and December.
David made 22 saves across January's four games in the top flight and he is currently in contention to win his first-ever Premier League Player of the Month award.
And De Gea is one of only five men in the division to have played every single minute in the competition during 2021/22, which is no mean feat given the disruption that COVID-19 has caused to the game as a whole recently.
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The rise of the Omicron variant in the UK resulted in the postponement of a number of games in December, with a COVID outbreak at United last month meaning we had to rearrange matches with Brentford and Brighton.
Over 40 players, including our own Eric Bailly and Hannibal, have been away at the Africa Cup of Nations this month, while several sides have been decimated by injury and the virus, meaning further fixture rearrangements have been necessary in January.
Through all of this, De Gea has always been available for Ralf Rangnick and the German's predecessor Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Our no.1 has been on the field for a grand total of 1,980 minutes (excluding added time) in our 22 games so far. And while that tally is lower than those accrued by Antonio Rudiger (Chelsea) and Pontus Jansson (Brentford), both of those players have had breaks in their run.
Rudiger missed Chelsea’s visit to the Bees in October, while Jansson was substituted with eight minutes remaining of a win over Wolves earlier in the season.
Chelsea, on 24, and Brentford, with 23, have played more games than United. So De Gea leads the quintet of Premier League ever-presents in terms of minutes played, with the other four spots also going to goalkeepers.
Leeds United's Illan Meslier and Wolves’ Jose Sa, who also occupy second and third spots for top-flight saves in 2021/22 behind De Gea, have been involved from start to finish in their sides’ 21 games.
Tottenham Hotspur and Leicester City have games in hand due to postponements, but their stoppers Hugo Lloris and Kasper Schmeichel have both registered 1,800 interrupted minutes.
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With the COVID situation now hopefully easing, De Gea should have a good chance of a third ever-present Premier League campaign in four years.
David completed all 38 matches across the 2018/19 and 2019/20 terms and he continues to climb up United’s all-time appearances chart.
De Gea (469 United games) moved beyond Mark Hughes into 15th place on the list last week and now has George Best (470) and Brian McClair (471) in his sights.