England: Nick Pope and Aaron Ramsdale hoping to usurp Jordan Pickford at World Cup
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Pope, Pickford and Ramsdale are favourites to be named in Southgate's provisional squad on Thursday
Jordan Pickford is back from injury after missing out on the last England camp before the World Cup and expected by most to start the Three Lions' World Cup opener against Iran.
The Everton goalkeeper has been Gareth Southgate's trusted number one dating back to his heroics at the 2018 tournament in Russia.
But such is the strength in depth Southgate has to choose from in every position these days, there are plenty of arguments that Pickford's spot in the 26-man squad shouldn't be guaranteed.
Newcastle's Nick Pope and Arsenal's Aaron Ramsdale are also expected to be named in Southgate's World Cup squad - with Nottingham Forest's Dean Henderson an outside bet - but can either seriously challenge Pickford?
Before Pope and Pickford feature against each other when Newcastle host Everton at St James' Park on Wednesday, BBC Sport analyses the form and stats before asking you to pick your favourite.
'Pickford's personality has got him where he is today'
Pickford has so far earned 45 caps over his career
The number one shirt is Pickford's to lose. As demonstrated many times before, Southgate is a manager who builds a team on trust.
The Everton goalkeeper has previously been criticised for failing to keep his emotions in check and making mistakes but back in May, former Manchester City defender Micah Richards said Pickford's personality was a major weapon in his arsenal.
"I don't think he should lose that. That is what has got him to where he is now," Richards told BBC Radio 5 Live.
"Some goalkeepers get pumped up before the games and people say it is a bit too much. When you are playing well, no-one picks at these things. As soon as you start not playing well, everyone starts to nit-pick at things."
Statistically, in all competitions during 2022, Pickford is lagging behind both his contemporaries in terms of clean sheets, with five compared to eight for Ramsdale and 10 for Pope. He has conceded 11 more goals than both, too.
But he has faced more shots on target, with 154 in all, an average of 5.13 per game.
All competitions in 2022 | Jordan Pickford | Nick Pope | Aaron Ramsdale |
Games played | 30 | 32 | 30 |
Clean sheets | 5 | 10 | 8 |
Goals conceded | 48 | 37 | 37 |
Shots on target faced | 154 (5.13 per game) | 147 (4.59 per game) | 94 (3.13 per game) |
Saves made | 107 | 111 | 58 |
Passes made | 934 | 780 | 857 |
Successful passes | 487 | 356 | 499 |
Pass accuracy (%) | 52.14 | 45.64 | 58.23 |
The 28-year-old is adept with the ball at his feet, too, and is utilised for that skill, having made 934 passes across 2022 compared with Pope's 780 and Ramsdale's 857.
The Arsenal goalkeeper does however rival Pickford in this area, with the best passing accuracy of the three at 58.23%, averaging 16.63 successful passes per 90 minutes compared with the Everton man's 16.23.
Pickford remains overwhelming favourite to be first choice, but there are plenty of reasons why the others are in contention.
'Pope doesn't instil confidence with the ball at his feet'
Pope has 10 England caps to his name
In contrast to Pickford, distribution is one of the main issues for many when it comes to Pope's chances.
Referring again to the passing stats for 2022, the 30-year-old, who left relegated Burnley for Newcastle in the summer, has played the least successful passes (356), just 11.12 per game, and has considerably worse overall accuracy (45.64%) than either Pickford or Ramsdale.
There is also the small matter of his mistake that allowed Kai Havertz to score a late equaliser in England's last outing against Germany at Wembley, and a generally shaky performance with the ball at his feet.
Part of the BBC Radio 5 Live commentary team that night was former Celtic and England striker Chris Sutton, and he voiced his concerns about Pope's kicking.
"Nick Pope took a heavy first touch and he was unaware of Havertz, who put him under pressure. And a shot from [Ilkay] Gundogan went over the bar, but [Pope] doesn't instil you with great confidence with the ball at his feet," Sutton said, when the scores were level at 0-0.
It wasn't a very good final audition, but Pope has been a consistent both in a struggling Burnley side in recent years and under Eddie Howe at St James' Park this term.
Newcastle currently have the Premier League's meanest defence after a goalless draw with Manchester United on Sunday. In 10 games, they have conceded just nine goals with Pope an ever-present in the side.
Of the 111 saves (3.47 per game) he has made this year, the most of the three rivals, Pope has the best save percentage at 74.83% - with Pickford at 68.83% and Ramsdale 60.64%.
'Ramsdale's career is one of overcoming setbacks'
Ramsdale made 15 appearances for England Under-21s
A theme for Arsenal this season has been proving doubters wrong. The Gunners sit four points clear at the Premier League summit and are showing increasing signs of a challenge for the title.
That same theme has been a constant in Ramsdale's Gunners career, too.
His signing for £24m from Sheffield United in 2021 after successive Premier League relegations, the first coming with Bournemouth, was not universally popular among Arsenal support.
But impressive performances as Arsenal pushed for Champions League qualification last season changed many opinions of the 24-year-old.
Nick Cox, head of Manchester United's academy, signed Ramsdale as a youth player while at Sheffield United in 2013 and says that drive to prove himself has always been key to the Arsenal goalkeeper's development.
"We didn't think we'd signed a future England goalkeeper," Cox told BBC Sport in December last year. "We didn't know too much about him, but we needed a keeper and he came on trial before we offered him a two-year scholarship.
"In the first year, he found it tough. We actually thought it might be too tough for him, so we got him to coach the younger academy groups on Tuesday nights.
"The thinking was 'if this doesn't work out for him as a scholar, we need to prepare a future for him' so we got him coaching. He may not even know that was the reason, but he was a brilliant coach.
"By the end of the first year, he started to excel because he was coming back after training and working on his own with the goalkeeper coach.
"Pathways to the top are rarely a straight line and his career was one of overcoming setbacks."
Ramsdale has just three caps to his name and assuming he joins Pope and Pickford in Qatar, will be an outsider to start. But if his career is anything to go by and given Arsenal's current form, he can't be written off.
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