Best Arsenal Goalkeepers Ever

Frank Moss

England goalkeeper Frank Moss joined Arsenal from Oldham Athletic for a fee of £3,000 in November 1931, making the first of his 143 league appearances the next day in a London derby away at Chelsea. The Preston-born stopper enjoyed a successful six years in north London, winning the First Division three times and the Charity Shield twice.

He even scored a league goal for Arsenal but was plagued by injury after dislocating a shoulder in March 1935. That injury eventually forced Moss to retire in 1937. He stayed in football though, becoming manager of Hearts.

Played his early football with Lostock Hall FC, and then with the works team, Leyland Motors FC, where he worked as a driller. Joined Preston North End FC on amateur forms in October 1927, turning professional in February 1928, keeping goal on 24 league occasions. Joined Oldham Athletic FC in May 1929, making another 29 league appearances.

Jens Lehmann

Jens Lehmann is a retired German footballer. He was born in 1969. He joined Schalke 04 in 1988 and played for them until 1998. In 1996/97 Schalke won the UEFA Cup. The first half of the 1998/99 season Lehmann spent at A.C. Milan but his stay there wasn’t a success and he returned to Germany in winter.

He signed for Borussia Dortmund and despite the critics, he proved himself a key player. In 2001/02 Borussia Dortmund won Bundesliga title and finished runner-up in the UEFA Cup. The 2002/03 season wasn’t good for Lehman and he left the team.

On 26 July 2003, he signed for Arsenal. In his first season, the team won the Premier League title but in the following season, Lehman wasn’t used regularly. The 2005/06 season was a prolific one for the keeper, he was named the Champions League Goalkeeper of the Year and Arsenal finished Champions League with silver medals. He left the Premier League team after 2007/08 and in the summer of 2008 Lehmann signed for VfB Stuttgart.

He announced his retirement from playing in the summer of 2010 but in March 2011 was invited to re-join Arsenal and made several appearances for the first team and reserves before he finally retired.

Jens Lehmann earned 61 caps for the Germany national team but had a competition with Oliver Kahn who was used more often.

Jack Kelsey

When looking back on the life of Jack Kelsey, it can be said that he was a giant in slumber for the beginning of his career. He was not a famous player by any means at this point but he had impressive skill. Jack Kelsey got his big break when a former player for Wales found him playing with Winch Wen.

After seeing Kelsey goal tend, Arsenal decided to sign him on the team. It wasn’t until George Swindin was injured that Jack Kelsey finally got the big break he had been so patiently waiting for. Kelsey ended up goalkeeping for a total of 29 times that season and was an overwhelming contributor for the first division title Arsenal won. The following year, 1953, Kelsey had managed to prove himself and was moved to the starter position over Swindin.

Jack Kelsey played as a starter for the Arsenal eight straight seasons and eventually became a starter for the Welch team too. Although Arsenal never won very many trophies, Jack Kelsey was the goalkeeper in 1958 for Wales in the World Cup. This in itself is a trophy because it was Wales’ first appearance in the finals for the World Cup. Jack Kelsey did not allow a goal for 70 minutes of the game but eventually, Wales lost the game to Brazil, 1-0.

It was not until 1962 when he got a back injury against Brazil that he was ultimately forced to retire. After retiring, Jack remained a part of the game as best he could by becoming the Arsenal’s commercial manager. To this day Jack Kelsey holds the second-highest number of appearances in Arsenal history, a total of 352 appearances.

Pat Jennings

The Irish goalkeeper was Tottenham’s custodian for 13 years before spending eight years with Arsenal. Others who have crossed the divide tend to be loved and hated in equal measure, but not Jennings. He can expect a warm welcome whether he strolls around White Hart Lane or Emirates Stadium.

The reason is simple. Jennings is one of the finest players ever to pull on a pair of goalkeeping gloves. He won a record 119 caps for Northern Ireland in an international career which spanned 22 years, he played more than 1,000 games at the top level, was named Footballer of the Year in 1973, won five major trophies, received an MBE and an OBE and even scored a goal in the 1967 Charity Shield.

Calm and assured, Jennings was blessed with a positional sense which meant he barely needed to resort to the spectacular. He was simply in the right place at the right time to pluck crosses out of the air or push shots aside. Jennings was a master of the one-on-one, standing up long enough to narrow the angle and make things as difficult as possible for onrushing strikers.

Jennings’ biggest connection to Arsenal before 1977 was the role he played when the Gunners clinched the first half of their League and Cup Double in 1971. The Irishman was in goal when Ray Kennedy’s header flew past him at White Hart Lane as Arsenal famously wrapped up the title. Within six years he would be playing alongside some of those former rivals.

His long career ended in style with an appearance, at the age of 40, at the World Cup Finals in Mexico. It was a fitting finale for one of football’s greatest goalkeepers.

Best Arsenal Goalkeepers Ever

David Seaman

At the time the fee of £1.3m, a British record for a goalkeeper, was thought excessive by some. In hindsight, it’s up there with Ian Wright, Steve Bould, Lee Dixon and Nigel Winterburn as the best money Graham – or any Arsenal manager – had ever spent. Now, he might just be regarded as one of the best Arsenal goalkeepers ever (if not the best)!

Seaman’s sustained excellence won over the fans in no time and he became the cornerstone of an Arsenal back five which kept 23 clean sheets and conceded just 18 goals en route to the 1990/91 League title. Seaman’s qualities were manifold – he had sharp reflexes, excellent positional sense, great judgement from crosses and bags of courage.

The title evaded Arsenal for the next seven years but Seaman remained to the fore as Graham’s side became Cup kings at home and in Europe. By now Wright was the major weapon in attack and the well-worn chant of ‘One-Nil to the Arsenal’ was born as the livewire striker nicked a goal while Seaman – plus the famous Back Four – took care of the clean sheet.

The European Cup Winners’ Cup probably saw Seaman’s finest individual moments.

Hampered by a broken rib, the Yorkshireman had pain-killing injections before keeping out a stellar cast of Zola, Brolin and Asprilla in the 1994 backs-to-the-wall win over Parma. The following season he pulled off three superb saves in a Semi-Final penalty shoot-out against Sampdoria and, although Nayim’s freakish winner spoiled the Final, Seaman’s stock was sky-high.

He soon translated that form to the international scene, emerging as one of England’s heroes at Euro ’96. Penalty saves against Scotland and Spain propelled Seaman into the realms of celebrity and his England career stretched for eight years before another bizarre goal – from Brazil’s Ronaldinho at the 2002 World Cup – signalled the end.

The trophies continued to stack up at club level. Seaman was a blessing for new manager Arsène Wenger and duly played a full part in the Double sides of 1998 and 2002. The new century ushered in growing criticism about Seaman’s reflexes and judgement, but the keeper responded in the best way possible – with more silverware and a save which will live long in the memory.

It was April 2003, Seaman was approaching his 40th birthday and Arsenal were defending a 1-0 lead in the FA Cup Semi-Final against Sheffield United at Old Trafford. In the closing minutes, Seaman was stranded when Paul Peschisolido nodded goalwards but, with an equaliser seemingly inevitable, the Arsenal keeper threw himself across goal and reached back to somehow claw the ball away from under the crossbar. It was just like Seaman to save the best for last and the perfect way to silence those critics.

A month later the long-serving stopper lifted the FA Cup at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium as Arsenal’s captain following a 1-0 win against Southampton. After 564 appearances and eight major trophies, it was his final act as an Arsenal player and a fitting climax to a glittering Highbury career.
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