Clean sheets in the Premier League and Championship

A clean-sheet table always sends me to the saves column. My early pick is Hull City's Konstantinos Tzolakis, who has three clean sheets from five games and 17 saves at 81%. Four other keepers share his clean-sheet total. None has made as many saves.

That's why Tzolakis leads my list. A clean sheet belongs to the whole side, but the table puts one keeper's name beside it. Some spend long spells watching their centre-backs clear everything. Others have to keep earning the quiet scoreline.

I've always had a soft spot for keepers. One late stop sticks in my head longer than ten tidy bits of defending, even when I know that isn't entirely fair.

The clean sheets Premier League table after five games

Five keepers have three clean sheets from five games, a 60% rate. James Trafford is one of four keepers just behind them on two.

Pickford has the best line if you stop here. He has conceded three, the joint lowest total in this group alongside Trafford. Verbruggen has the same three shutouts as Pickford but has conceded five overall. Their clean-sheet totals match, while the damage outside those shutouts doesn't.

That doesn't make Pickford's start any less good. It changes what I'm measuring. Clean sheets tell me what the side kept out; saves tell me how much of that work reached the keeper. I need both before I call anyone the best. Otherwise I'm praising the defence and the keeper in the same breath, then pretending I've separated them. A useful table should start the argument.

Trafford is the awkward row. Two clean sheets looks weaker than the five-way tie, yet three goals conceded looks stronger than most of it. That is exactly where the saves column earns its place.

Five matches is far too soon to call any record settled. I still catch myself doing it. Early tables are dangerous things if you enjoy a theory.

What the saves behind clean sheets Premier League totals show

Tzolakis has made 17 saves at an 81% save rate. Raya has reached the same three clean sheets with nine saves at 69.2%. Pickford is on 15 saves at 83.3%. The clean-sheet table groups them together, but they haven't had the same job.

Raya's number looks like a well-protected keeper doing what his side needs. Tzolakis has had to do more himself. I trust Tzolakis's three clean sheets more because he has already shown he can survive a heavier afternoon and still get the shutout.

The other revealing line belongs to Leeds United's James Trafford. He has 20 saves in five games at 87%, with three goals conceded and two clean sheets. Those are excellent keeper numbers. They also make me nervous about the defence in front of him.

That isn't a criticism of Trafford. It's praise for him, and a warning for Leeds. I don't expect an 87% save rate to stay there across a full season. Keep asking him to make four saves a game and an ordinary afternoon will eventually turn one tight result into a bad one. Leeds have the Premier League defensive record I trust least here.

Championship clean sheets after eight games

George Wickens and Lawrence Vigouroux lead with four clean sheets from eight games. Both are on 50%, though Wickens has conceded eight goals to Vigouroux's six. Arthur Okonkwo follows with three clean sheets from seven.

Vigouroux looks better on that table. The saves send me the other way. Wickens has made 28 saves to Vigouroux's 16, with save rates of 77.8% and 72.7%. Wickens has faced much more work across the same eight games and is still level with Vigouroux on clean sheets.

I'd take the Wickens season. His Lincoln City record carries a bit more risk because eight goals have gone past him, but it also carries far more evidence that he can bail his side out. Vigouroux's Swansea line is tidier. Wickens's is harder earned.

Okonkwo has 25 saves in seven games at 73.5%, with nine conceded. Daniel Bielica has 14 saves at 77.8% from four games. Both are worth watching, though neither shifts my call on Wickens and Vigouroux yet.

Then there is Lukas Jensen. The Millwall keeper tops our Shot Stopper board with two clean sheets from two games, no goals conceded, two saves and a 100% save rate. He can only deal with what reaches him, and he has done that. I just won't treat two games and two saves as a lasting standard.

Trafford's 87% worries me. Jensen's 100% convinces me even less. It is the least sustainable headline in either table, because the first goal he concedes changes the whole thing.