Since arriving from Mikel Arteta's Premier League title favourites Arsenal in a £25 million transfer move, Aaron Ramsdale was expected to play a key role for Russell Martin's side in their aim to avoid relegation this season. The 26-year-old made a name for himself at Arsenal over the previous three seasons with his impressive saves and high number of clean-sheets, and was also regarded as one of the best goalkeepers in the Premier League.
Although the England international came very close to winning a league title with Arsenal in recent seasons, the expectations and ambitions at Southampton were different, who had secured promotion to the Premier League a few months ago. Ramsdale made his Southampton debut in a 3-1 defeat against Brentford despite making five huge saves in that match.
£25 million Saints star gives heroic performance in huge 1-0 win
That pattern continued in the next six league matches as well, where Ramsdale made a number of impressive saves in order to try to take a clean-sheet, but defensive mistakes and misplaced passes led Russell Martin's side to drop a lot of important points in the Premier League. A few days ago, Southampton's defence was again lacklustre against Stoke City and thus, it signified that Ramsdale will have to step up his goalkeeping efforts against Sean Dyche's Everton to build the foundation for Southampton's much-needed first league win.
And the former Arsenal goalkeeper did just that, with the 26-year-old making a total of five saves to keep Everton from scoring against Southampton. That included a heroic effort to quickly make a bottom-corner save to deny Michael Keane's header in the second half, which nearly gave the visitors a 1-0 lead.
That save was massively important for Southampton as the Saints had often conceded multiple goals within a few minutes, a number of times in the Premier League after going 1-0 behind. Ramsdale's world-class save was applauded by the Southampton fans, which inspired the defence to maintain their defensive solidity throughout the match.
With a 1-0 win, Ramsdale also registered his first clean-sheet for Southampton and the in-form Saints star will aim towards continuing his impressive form in the upcoming away fixture against Wolves as well.