The Sky Bet Championship season has been suspended until April 4 with no football being played across Europe.
It creates a brief stoppage to the battle for the Premier League in England's second tier with a number of teams still holding an opportunity to secure promotion.
There have been a number of stand-out performers throughout the campaign who have played a significant part in helping their side reach their current position.
Sky Bet Championship: Top Performers Series
Throughout the coming weeks, Tom Carnduff will look at the best performing players in each position; aiming to find those who have excelled in the areas that matter most.
But who takes the accolade of being the Championship's best goalkeeper? We dissect the main numbers.
Who makes the most saves?
- Dillon Phillips (Charlton): 127
- Rafael Cabral (Reading): 120
- Bartosz Bialkowski (Millwall): 112
- Daniel Bentley (Bristol City): 110
- Christian Walton (Blackburn): 102
- Brice Samba (Forest): 99
- Freddie Woodman (Swansea): 99
- Sam Johnstone (West Brom): 99
- George Long (Hull): 97
- Declan Rudd (Preston): 93
When it comes to total saves across the season, Charlton's Dillon Phillips has been the busiest with 127. The Addicks have been conceding a total of 1.46 goals per game, although Phillips has been posting an average of 3.43 saves in each fixture he has been involved in.
Reading's Rafael is just behind but they have conceded 12 less goals over the course of the 37 games so far. Their 1.14 goals conceded per game means that Rafael is saving over twice as many shots as he is conceding.
Millwall stopper Bartosz Bialkowski, Bristol City's Daniel Bentley and Blackburn first-choice Christian Walton are the other trio to reach three figures in the saves column.
Brice Samba and Sam Johnstone have found themselves the busiest of any goalkeeper involved in a top-six side. West Brom are considered a strong attacking side, but Johnstone's 99 saves suggests that they are busy at the other end too.
Nottingham Forest's 'goals against' sits on 38 at this point, but their xGA (Expected Goals Against) is at 46.5 which shows the importance of Samba this season and his impact so far.
George Long at Hull is the only goalkeeper on the list not to outperform their team's xGA - Hull have conceded 63 while the expected figure stands at 52.4.
What about the Expected Goals Against?
Difference between Expected Goals Against total and actual goals conceded this season:
- Reading: 13.2
- Derby: 10
- Charlton: 9.6
- Bristol City: 9.5
- Swansea: 9.1
Expected Goals is a measurement that continues to divide opinion in football but it's useful here to measure the quality of goal-scoring chances against saves made by the goalkeeper.
If a team's xGA is higher it means that they are facing higher quality chances. Luton on 66.5, Charlton on 63.6 and Bristol City on 62.5 lead the division when it comes to this area.
The above video demonstrates the importance of this statistic in the right context. Reading won the game 2-1 but the result could have been completely different had it not been for Rafael's triple save.
All chances on goal carry a rating of 0.0 to 1.0 and two of the three shots Fulham had there both carried a rating between 0.7 to 0.8 (Knockaert and Decordova-Reid's latter two efforts). They were expected to put away both chances, not just one of them, but the goalkeeper's heroics denied them a goal and victory.
Reading have outperformed their Expected Goals Against significantly this season. They've conceded 42 but the xGA figure stands at 55.2 - a difference of 13.2. The Royals have drawn nine games and won four by a single-goal margin; the importance of a strong goalkeeper and fine margins on display in the standings.
Derby have divided their goalkeeping duties virtually 50/50 between Kelle Roos and Ben Hamer during the course of the campaign but both have combined to help the Rams' back line.
Phillip Cocu's side have an xGA of 59.0, the fifth-highest in the division, but have only conceded 49 goals - a difference of 10.
Charlton's Phillips leads the way when it comes to total shots and that's crucial considering they've outperformed their xGA by a margin of 9.6.
Bentley at Bristol City and Woodman at Swansea are the other two to have helped their side beat their xGA by a total of 9.0 or more.
Who is the best distributor?
Accurate pass percentage (over 20 games played):
- Kiko Casilla (Leeds): 80%
- Freddie Woodman (Swansea): 71%
- David Raya (Brentford): 70%
- Joe Lumley (QPR): 67%
- Marek Rodak (Fulham): 64%
A key part of the modern goalkeeper is their ability to distribute the ball and start the attack from the very back.
In the Championship, Kiko Casilla is the stand-out figure in this area. His accurate passing percentage for regular starters stands at an impressive 80%, while he has also attempted over 1000 passes across 35 games.
It does come down to the way a team wants to play. Short passes to the defence will add up and are always accurate. Those under instruction to play long will see their accuracy percentage drop.
It's still a good indication though of those who can hit their intended targets and how useful they will be to a team who look to move the ball.
QPR's Joe Lumley finds himself in the top-five for accurate passes but has only attempted a total of 663. He has grabbed an assist though - helping Bright Osayi Samuel score his second in their convincing 6-1 hammering of Cardiff.
Freddie Woodman makes another list in terms of the main statistics. He is only bettered by Casilla when it comes to accuracy.
Accurate long ball percentage (over 20 games played):
- Lee Camp (Birmingham): 45%
- Kiko Casilla (Leeds): 45%
- Freddie Woodman (Swansea): 44%
- David Marshall (Wigan): 42%
- Brice Samba (Forest): 41%
Casilla is near the top of this list too but his figure stands at 45% as opposed to the 80% for total passes. It's still a strong percentage which would put him in the top-five of Premier League goalkeepers in this statistic.
A first mention goes to Lee Camp who matches that with his efforts for Birmingham. However, considering that Camp has hit 128 more long passes, he takes top marks in the category.
Woodman trails just behind once again with 44% success rate and a total of 237. The Swansea stopper has played every minute of their campaign too and distribution can be pointed to as one of many strong points.
David Marshall appears for the first time with the long ball accuracy percentage standing at 42%. His Wigan side are looking to avoid the drop and Marshall sits ninth in overall long balls.
Who is the stand-out star?
There's a number of contenders to take the top spot but two names stick out based on the statistics named above.
The first of which is Reading's Rafael based on the number of saves made plus the impact that has had on their Expected Goals Against.
The Royals should have conceded 13 more goals than they have, and while that is not all down to the goalkeeper, his efforts at the back have ensured that their actual number is much lower.
Reading currently sit 18th in the 'goals against' standings with sides in the top-eight all boasting better defensive records. However, adding 13 goals to that tally would move them up to seventh.
Not only would that look bad on the defensive record, but the detrimental effect that would have had on their points tally would have all-but-certainly dragged them into the relegation scrap.
When it comes to finding that all-round keeper though, Woodman ticks all the boxes.
In similar fashion to Rafael, his efforts have helped to significantly lower the number of goals they should have conceded. His three penalties saved is also a division high this season.
Woodman's decision-making puts him at a 90% success rate for runs out while he sits outside the top-ten for goals conceded from outside the box.
The distribution puts him among the divisional leaders and the fact he's only 23 years old just adds to the impact he has made during his time at the club.
In the short-term, should the season resume, the stopper could help the Swans to achieve a Premier League return while the long-term vision will surely revolve around securing the number one spot at his parent club Newcastle.
He looks a strong contender for Team of the Season if we reach gameweek 46, such is the strength of his showings over the previous 37 fixtures.
No goalkeeper is perfect but Woodman, an England international at various youth levels, has the potential to go to the very top. He's a star of England's second tier.
Expected Goals information from infogol.net. Stats from sofascore.com.
