Schwarzer continues to shine with Fulham

Qantas Socceroo keeper Mark Schwarzer continues to break new ground in his debut season with Fulham Athletic, with the statistics suggesting he is the best shot stopper in the English Premier League.

Qantas Socceroo keeper Mark Schwarzer continues to break new ground in his debut season with Fulham Athletic, with the statistics suggesting he is the best shot stopper in the English Premier League.

Prior to last weekend-s matches, Schwarzer was top of the list when it came to the number of saves made when compared to the number of shots at his goal. His 81% success rate was the highest of any keeper, including that of recently announced PFA Goalkeeper of the Year Manchester United-s Edwin van der Sar and Liverpool keeper Pepe Reina.

He added another clean sheet to his tally for this season, making it No.15, in a 1-0 win over Stoke City that keeps Fulham in 7th position and still well in contention for a UEFA Europa Cup place for next season.

Another goalkeeper that is doing well in Europe is Michael Petkovic, who like Schwarzer is statistical wise the best in his competition. Petkovic has the best % of least goals conceded per games played and is a major reason why, Sivasspor are at the top of the table in Turkey. He kept another clean sheet in Sivasspor-s 3-0 win over Trabzonspor on the weekend that keeps them one point clear at the top of the Turkish Super Liga, with five games remaining.

It wasn-t however a good weekend for another Aussie keeper in the EPL, with Brad Jones unable to stop Arsenal from recording a 2-0 win over Middlesbrough, Schwarzer-s former club, at the Emirates Stadium. Good news for Vince Grella though, who played 78 minutes in Blackburn Rovers 2-0 win over Wigan Athletic, which lifted them six points clear of the relegation zone. Elsewhere in the EPL, Lucas Neill played a full game in West Ham-s 1-0 loss to Chelsea; Tim Cahill came off the bench after an hour, but could do little to stop Everton crashing 2-1 at home to Manchester City; while Richard Garcia remained on the bench, as Hull City slipped closer to the relegation zone with a 3-1 loss at home against Liverpool.

Striker Josh Kennedy is finally getting some game time for Karlsruhe in Germany and so are the points for the bottom of the table side. For the last 2-3 months, Kennedy has been largely ignored, but since his return a draw and a 1-0 win on the weekend against Bayer Leverkusen, has given the club a boost that could see them avoid the drop, albeit unlikely though. Josh didn-t score but played a full game, as Karlsruhe are four points adrift of safety with three games to go.

Harry Kewell played a full game for Galatasaray in a 1- draw with Ankaraspor. That draw leaves Gala in 4th, but with almost insurmountable task of retaining their title, as they are eight points behind Sivasspor. Meanwhile Mile Jedinak and James Troisi both played full games for Genclerbirligi in a valuable 1-0 win over Gaziantespor that lifted them five points clear of the relegation zone and more importantly ahead of a few other teams.

Jason Culina played a full game for PSV Eindhoven in a 2-0 win over SC Heracles, while Brett Holman was again confined to the bench in AZ Alkmaar-s 1- draw with Ajax. AZ were confirmed at Dutch Champions last week. Nikita Rukavytsya was not in the FC Twente squad.

Carl Valeri played a full game in Grosseto-s 2-1 win over Vicenza, but there was no sign of Mark Bresciano for Palermo in their 3-0 loss at home against AC Milan.

In Russia, Luke Wilkshire again played a full game, but Dinamo Moscow lost their second successive game 1-0 to PFK Samara Kryliya Sovetov.

In Switzerland, Scott Chipperfield played 77 minutes in a 1-0 win over FC Vaduz that keeps them second with six games to go.

Michael Beauchamp played a full game in AaB-s (Aalborg) 2-1 loss at home against Randers FC.

In Sweden, Ante Covic has started the season in fine form and kept another clean sheet in Elfsborg-s 1-0 win over Malmo FF that sees them in second position and still without defeat in five games.