Jordan Pickford’s Stunning Save Against Tonali at St James’ Park

Jordan Pickford has built a career on big moments in hostile arenas, but this one at St James’ Park now has its own place in Premier League history.

Deep into second-half stoppage time, Everton were clinging to a 3-2 lead over Newcastle United, the home crowd roaring for one last twist. The ball dropped to Sandro Tonali on the edge of the box. He met it flush, lashing a volley that screamed towards the top corner. It was the kind of strike that usually rips the net – or rips the heart out of an away end.

Pickford refused to let it.

He exploded across his goal, flung out a right hand and somehow diverted the ball onto the crossbar and away. Not parried into danger. Not helped on its way. Palmed, with astonishing strength and timing, up onto the frame of the goal and out to safety.

A match-saving intervention. A season-defining one, as it turns out.

That stop has now been named the 2025/26 Coca-Cola Save of the Season, crowning a campaign in which Pickford dominated the goalkeeping honours. The Everton and England No 1 had already taken February’s Coca-Cola Save of the Month for that very moment, one of two monthly awards he collected during the season. No other goalkeeper managed more than one.

Those two took his career tally to four Save of the Month prizes – a Premier League record.

The reaction inside St James’ Park told its own story, but the verdict from those who know the art of finishing – and stopping – better than most was just as emphatic.

“It was worthy of a goal,” said Everton manager David Moyes. He was quick to acknowledge Tonali’s technique – “Tonali couldn't have hit that any better or any sweeter if he tried again. It was technically brilliant, his volley” – but even quicker to elevate his goalkeeper. “I have to say that the save was out of this world.”

Alan Shearer, the Premier League’s all-time leading scorer with 260 goals and a man who has punished countless goalkeepers in that very stadium, needed only two words: “world class”.

“It is a brilliant strike from Sandro Tonali, but an unbelievable save,” Shearer added. “The reaction to get that onto the bar was remarkable.”

From the pitch, the view was even closer – and no less stunned. Jarrad Branthwaite, Pickford’s team-mate and protector in front of him, could only label it “the best save I have ever seen”.

The award did not arrive by reputation or highlight-reel bias alone. Pickford’s effort emerged from a shortlist of 10 saves: nine previous Premier League Save of the Month winners from across the 2025/26 campaign, plus a razor-thin fingertip stop by Tottenham Hotspur’s Antonin Kinsky against Leeds United in May. Each had already been judged the standout stop of its month. This was the best of the best.

Public votes combined with the verdict of a panel of football experts to decide the overall winner. When the numbers landed, Pickford stood alone.

He was the only goalkeeper all season to collect two or more Save of the Month awards, and his St James’ Park miracle edged out outstanding stops from James Trafford, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Martin Dubravka, David Raya, Alphonse Areola, Aaron Ramsdale, Karl Darlow and Kinsky.

This is not new territory for him, either. Pickford has now claimed the Coca-Cola Save of the Season award twice, adding the 2025/26 honour to his success in 2021/22, the inaugural year of the prize.

Some saves fade into the background of a long season. This one will not. It preserved three away points in one of the league’s most unforgiving grounds, set a new benchmark for individual goalkeeping accolades, and reinforced Pickford’s status among the elite.

For a goalkeeper whose career has been defined by fine margins and high-wire moments, there was no better way to etch his name even deeper into Premier League folklore than by turning a certain Tonali equaliser into another line on his growing list of records.