Players Under The Microscope / Ralph Ellis / 27 January 2009 /

Ralph Ellis looks at how the void left by the departure of Peter Schmeichel back in 1999 has taken a while to fill but Edwin Van Der Sar has proved to be very much the man for the job of being Man Utd's number one.

I've just finished reading an advance copy of Brad Friedel's new book. I was given it by a newspaper who wanted me to write a report on whether it was worth buying the serialisation rights or not. Sadly for Brad, who would no doubt put the extra few bob it might make him towards his charity back home in the States, the answer was a resounding "no".

The old saying was that goalkeepers are crazy. That's changed now, because the best goalkeepers are just dull. Friedel's a perfect example of the generation. He is a sound, thoughtful, thorough professional who has worked his socks off to be a success. His story won't make sensational newspaper copy, but it does give a glimpse of why Aston Villa are challenging for a place in the Champions League.

Look across the Big Four teams and they all have a keeper who is calm, consistent and experienced. Pepe Reina at Liverpool, Petr Cech at Chelsea, even Manuel Almunia at Arsenal - not one of them is likely to stir up too much in the way of controversy.

And then, of course, there's the biggest Mr Consistent of the lot - Edwin Van der Sar at Manchester United. For several years after Peter Schmeichel's era ended, finding the right man between the sticks seemed to be Sir Alex Ferguson's Achilles heel. There was the occasionally brilliant but troubled Mark Bosnich, Tim Howard who didn't fulfill his potential until he went to Everton and Roy Carroll who quite simply just wasn't good enough.

But buying the big Dutchman from Fulham was unquestionably one of the keys to recovering the Premier League title.

Van der Sar can underline that tonight when the 38-year-old returns to United's team at West Bromwich Albion after being given the weekend off from the FA Cup. If he gets through 84 minutes unbeaten, he will break Cech's record of 1,025 minutes of Premier League action without conceding a goal.

United can also achieve a Premier League record of 11 consecutive clean sheets if they stop Albion scoring. The last they let in was Samir Nasri's 48th minute strike in the 2-1 defeat at Arsenal on November 8.

As Fergie tells this morning's papers: "Edwin's calmness and concentration are doing us a power of good and he's playing as well as he has ever done. This season I have given him breaks and he didn't like it at first, but I think he sees the wisdom now in me nursing a player of his age through the season. He has certainly been at a peak during our recent run."

United are as short as [1.41] to win at The Hawthorns, which is hardly worth backing, so the real value is in Van der Sar's chance to add another couple of records to his glittering career. A United clean sheet against the team at the foot of the table should be big odds on, so is great value at [1.9], with a 0-1 or 0-2 scoreline priced at [7.2] and [6.8] respectively.

Five things you might not know about Edwin Van der Sar

1.Born in the tiny Dutch town of Voorhout, with a population of less than 15,000, he played his teenage football for local sides and was 20 before being found by Ajax

2.His favourite breakfast as a boy was bread sprinkled with white chocolate flakes, called "squashed mouse

3.He played 226 games for Ajax - and even scored one goal when he took a penalty to complete an 8-1 win over De Graafschap in 1998

4.He was 25 before he made his debut for Holland - but has since won 130 caps

5.He met his wife Anne-Marie in his brother's grocery store in Amsterdam. They have a son who is 10 and an eight-year-old daughter

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