Tottenham Hotspur were hit with a major blow earlier this month as club captain Hugo Lloris was ruled out of action for up to eight weeks with a knee injury.
The French shot-stopper, who has played 443 games for Spurs in all competitions since arriving from Lyon in 2012, missed his first match with the issue against Leicester on Saturday.
Who has replaced Hugo Lloris?
Antonio Conte’s side were beaten 4-1 by Leicester City with second-choice goalkeeper Fraser Forster in goal.
The 6 foot 7 titan has now conceded six goals in two appearances for the club in the Premier League – 2.1 more than the average goalkeeper would be expected to based on the post-shot xG value of the shots he faced. In those matches, the liability saved 45% of the efforts on his goal and averaged a Sofascore rating of 6.20.
You could point to his lack of game time as a reason behind his underperformance between the sticks but his statistics over the years for Southampton indicate that it is not a new issue.
Forster underperformed on xG in each of his last four seasons with the Saints as the giant conceded 7.2 more goals than expected from 2017/18 to the end of 2021/22.
Journalist Brian Sandalow described watching the goalkeeper go to ground as “painful” and it is not difficult to understand why when you watch the goals that he conceded.
The ex-Celtic man did not get anywhere near Kelechi Iheanacho or Harvey Barnes’ strikes despite them being passed towards the goal from the edge of the box without significant power on them.
Tottenham now face the prospect of having the 34-year-old in goal for the next two months or so of action and his poor shot-stopping could cost the team valuable points in the battle to secure Champions League football.
Who is Josh Keeley?
With the transfer window closed for business, Conte could ditch Forster by unleashing the club’s U21 goalkeeper Josh Keeley, who has caught the eye at times this season.
The 19-year-old, who was part of the first-team in pre-season last summer, showcased his quality in the EFL Trophy earlier this term by averaging a Sofascore rating of 7.45 and saving 86% of the shots against him in two outings against Football League outfits.
Alasdair Gold of football.london claimed that Keeley, who kept one clean sheet in two senior outings for St. Patrick’s Athletic prior to arriving at the club, was one to “catch the eye” for the U21s earlier this season and this, along with his statistics, shows that the gem has the potential to make a big impression between the sticks.
The teenager started for the youth side in their recent wins over Brighton and Hove Albion and Arsenal in Premier League 2, a competition in which the talent has played ten times in the current campaign, and is putting his hand up to fight for a first-team spot.
If Forster continues to be a liability between the sticks in Lloris’ absence then Conte could bin the veteran by taking a chance on Keeley and hoping that his fine form for the academy side can translate over to the senior team.