Thibaut Courtois has been quite the investment for Chelsea, but consistency has never been his prize asset.
The Belgian took the Premier League by storm in his inaugural season, only to let in goals left, right and centre just a year later. Nevertheless, Courtois seems to be back to his best with Chelsea sitting six points clear at the top.
In fact, statistics suggest that his current purple patch is showcasing his finest ever spell at Stamford Bridge. He’s proven the unsung hero behind the Blues’ astonishing recent run.
While nobody is debating Courtois’ status as a world-class goalkeeper, the 24-year-old seems to be a shot stopper that divides opinions.
One minute he’s the best thing since sliced bread, the next he’s back in the shadow of David de Gea and Hugo Lloris. Currently though, the former seems most appropriate.
As highlighted by the Telegraph, Courtois has been amassing some rather impressive numbers this season. While his debut campaign was superb, it looks set to be bettered.
The ex-Atletico Madrid man has kept a clean sheet in 56.25% of the games he has started this season. This astonishing tally completely eclipses the 37.5% he achieved in 2014-15 and the tally of 27.25% last season.
Moreover, Courtois only concedes a goal, on average, every 130.9 minutes. The previous campaign saw a comparatively whimsical rate of 69.6 minutes, less than half of his current score.
Errors have been few and far between also. 2014-15 saw the Belgian produce two errors leading directly to goals, 2015-16 witnessed one and this season has produced a big fat zero.
The Joe Hart-Claudio Bravo drama has also brought the passing ability of goalkeepers to the forefront this season. In light of this, Courtois is proving he’s one of the best in the business with an impressive 63.2% passing accuracy.
Amid all this fantastic form, Courtois went over 630 minutes without conceding during the height of Chelsea’s victory streak. Impressive stuff.
While numbers offer a lot in the way of evidence, they don’t paint the picture of world-class saves and electrifying reflexes.
In that sense, the 24-year-old certainly proved his worth this week. Courtois executed an astonishing save in the dying moments of the Blues’ trip to Sunderland that saw them edge a 1-0 win.
For those forgetting the superb, full-stretch stop, it can be seen below:
Therefore, it’s not hard to amass a rather comprehensive dossier as to just how impressive the Belgian has been this season. After all, the aforementioned example is testament to how he can be the difference between one and three points for Chelsea.
Throw in the mouth-watering statistics too and you have quite the case. Simply put, he’s in the form of his life.