David Raya secured at least a share of the Premier League Golden Glove for the 2025-26 season after Gianluigi Donnarumma conceded in Manchester City’s match with Everton on Monday evening.
Raya leads the league clean-sheet standings with 17 clean sheets, his personal best in a single Premier League season, a total he reached in Arsenal’s weekend win over Fulham. Donnarumma remains on 13 clean sheets after Monday’s goal, and with City still having four league matches remaining the concession ensured Raya cannot now be overtaken without a perfect run from Donnarumma.
This will be the third successive campaign in which Raya collects at least a share of the Golden Glove. He becomes only the fourth goalkeeper in Premier League history to achieve three consecutive Golden Glove shares, joining Pepe Reina, Joe Hart and Ederson. Raya previously shared the prize with Matz Sels of Nottingham Forest in 2024-25.
The numbers underline how central Raya’s form has been to Arsenal’s season. Arsenal have conceded 26 goals in the Premier League and just six in the Champions League this season, figures that sit well below title rivals. Manchester City have conceded 32 league goals, while Manchester United and Liverpool have conceded 48 and 47 respectively.
Context matters: the Golden Glove is awarded to the goalkeeper with the most Premier League clean sheets, and Raya’s 17 is the benchmark other keepers must match. His total also reflects Arsenal’s overall defensive strength across competitions this season, and it is the kind of consistency that converts individual awards into a wider team advantage.
But the race is not yet ceremonially closed. City’s remaining four fixtures leave a mathematical path for Donnarumma to reach 17 clean sheets if he keeps every one. Any further goal conceded by Donnarumma in those final matches would, however, confirm Raya as the sole winner. On Arsenal’s side, Raya has three matches left; a single clean sheet in any of those games would give him the Golden Glove outright.
Raya’s 17 clean sheets came after a sequence of performances that produced his personal best for a Premier League season. He kept his 17th against Fulham at the weekend, a landmark that followed last season’s shared award and a campaign in which Arsenal’s defensive record has been markedly tighter than most rivals.
Arsenal travel to face West Ham United in a London derby this weekend, one of the three remaining league fixtures for Raya and the immediate opportunity for him to lock the award without relying on results elsewhere. Manchester City, meanwhile, will play on with four league ties still to come — games that will determine whether Donnarumma can force a shared finish or will fall short.
The immediate facts are straightforward and notable: Raya has secured at least a share of the Golden Glove, he leads the standings on 17 clean sheets, and the combination of City’s recent concession and the remaining fixture list means the award could be settled in the days ahead. The david raya golden glove storyline is no longer hypothetical; it is a near-certainty shaped by fixtures and a single recent goal conceded by a title rival.
Everything now turns on three matches and one London derby — the single most consequential question left is simple: will Raya keep a clean sheet against West Ham this weekend and claim the Golden Glove in his own right?
