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Sky Pundit praises Newcastle United’s saving grace

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Former England and Liverpool centre-back Jamie Carragher, who is now a Sky Sports pundit, has been speaking about Newcastle United and believes Martin Dubravka has been a key player for the side this campaign.

The club currently sit 13th in the Premier League, via SofaScore, whilst looking like they should not get relegated this season, and the former defender believes this has been due to the man in between the sticks.

According to The Chronicle, speaking about the player, Carragher said, “I think the Newcastle goalkeeper Martin Dubravka is probably as big of an influence on their team as any goalkeeper.

“I’m not saying he’s the second or third best goalkeeper in the Premier League, but I think in terms of where you see Newcastle in the table, I think a lot of that is to do with the goalkeeper. He’s right up near the top of the list and he plays a big role in the fact Newcastle aren’t embroiled in a relegation fight.

It’s hard to disagree with Carragher here, as the goalkeeper has an impressive 24 clean sheets in 100 Premier League appearances for the side, via Premier League.

Based on Opta‘s expected goals on target data,  he has also prevented nine goals in the Premier League this season which is only bettered by Spaniard Vicente Guaita. They also ranked the Slovakian with goalkeepers from Europe’s top five leagues and he is the second best rated, via Opta.

The Magpies have already conceded 41 goals this season in England’s top flight, via SofaScore, and these statistics clearly highlight that they would have let more goals in if it wasn’t for him.

Hopefully when the season resumes, the club won’t be as reliant on the player, but Dubravka has not been scared to rise to the challenge in front of him and has arguably been the player of the season so far.

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