There have been a plethora of fine stoppers between the sticks for the Blues throughout our history and, to help you make up your final decision on who should secure a place in our Team of 120, we've highlighted a few of our key custodians from over the years.

Remember, you have until next week to cast your vote which you can do by clicking the link or via the form at the bottom of this page!

Willie Foulke

Chelsea’s original headline act. At six foot two and 22 stone, ‘Fatty’ Foulke was immense in personality as well as measurements and was a huge crowd-puller in our first-ever season, his only one at the club. He was more agile and athletic than might be anticipated and won an England cap. He also intimidated centre-forwards!

• Saved the first penalty faced by a Chelsea team in our first match

• Two small lads were stationed behind the goal to accentuate his size, giving rise to the invention of the ball boy

• In his 35 games he conceded just 28 goals. In the six games he missed that year, 17 were let in

Jim Molyneux

Northern-born ‘Moly’ is up there among the longest-serving Chelsea goalkeepers, having been a first choice and a fan favourite for almost all the 12 years he was at Stamford Bridge. Those were war-interrupted seasons and he was in the team that won the 1919 London Victory Cup when Fulham were beaten at Highbury. What he lacked in inches he made up for in awareness and agility.

• In goal for Chelsea’s first-ever FA Cup final, albeit on the losing side against Sheffield United in 1915

• Although signed to be a back-up keeper, he was straight in goal for the first game of his first season and did not look back

• Played over 200 games and his 77 clean-sheet tally is the fifth-highest in club history

Vic Woodley

Another whose career was interrupted by global conflict, ‘Young Woodley’ as he was known in his early days with the Pensioners was England’s undisputed No.1 in the three years preceding the Second World War.

Utterly reliable with the knack for being in the right place to make saves, he was crucial at times in keeping Chelsea up as a top-flight team.

• Racked up 272 games and 60 clean sheets as first choice despite Scotland’s international goalie Johnny Jackson being on Chelsea’s books at the same time

• Played in Chelsea’s first-ever appearance at Wembley – the war-time Football League Cup (South) final against Charlton in 1944

• England’s third-most capped goalkeeper prior to the Second World War
  

Peter Bonetti

To be Chelsea’s first-choice goalkeeper for pretty much the whole of two decades spells it out. And that includes during our most successful period up to that point.

Brilliantly safe with his handling and with the agility that led to his nickname, ‘the Cat’, the way he took crosses redefined the goalkeeping craft. Having collected a massive total of 208 clean sheets, he later returned to the club as our first specialist coach for goalies.

• Our second-highest appearance-maker ever with 729 games played

• Bravely overcame injury during the 1970 FA Cup final replay to play on in pain and eventually win the trophy for the first time in club history

• One of only two Blues legends to have his ashes interred at the Shed End of the Stamford Bridge pitch

Eddie Niedzwiecki

The importance of steady ‘Eddie Neddie’ to a high-achieving and cherished Chelsea team in the 1980s was made all too clear by the fact it collapsed to relegation without him.

Supremely focused, sure-handed, capable of breathtaking saves and with a kick so long it was a source of assists, injury sadly robbed him of what surely would have been many more great seasons in our shirt. Later became a valuable coach at the club.

• Voted Chelsea Player of the Year in 1986

• Ever present as the Blues won the Second Division championship to return to the top flight

• His performance in a cup win at Fulham is rated up there with the greatest goalkeeper displays in Chelsea history

Ed de Goey

Goalkeeper had been something of a revolving-door position in the seasons leading up to the signing of this Dutch international with an array of honours to his name and once Ed had acclimatised, the silverware came quickly at Chelsea too - with two European trophies and two domestic knockout cups won between 1998 and 2000, and superb saves made at crucial times along the way.

• Ensured there was important experience between the posts when our first-ever Champions League campaign went well

• That same 1999/00 campaign he set new club records for most appearances and clean sheets in a season

• At the time of his signing, his 6ft 6ins made him Chelsea’s tallest player ever
  

Carlo Cudicini

With goalkeeping in his blood thanks to an AC Milan great as a father, Carlo arrived in London as a back-up keeper on loan from Italy’s third division.

By the end of his second season, he was first choice on merit and by the end of his third, 2001/02, he was our Player of the Year. One of the most agile goalies in our history, capable of breathtaking saves, he had an impressive penalty-saving record, stopping six of the 13 he faced.

• Winner of a nationwide golden glove award for the best goalkeeper of 2002/03

• Part of the side that qualified Chelsea for the Champions League for the second time

• Costing just £160,000 to sign, quite simply superb value

Petr Cech

No Chelsea goalkeeper can match Big Pete’s medal collection or come close to his clean sheet record from his decade as our clear first choice between the posts.

Putting pay to outdated beliefs that goalies take longer to mature than outfielders, he was the finished article in his early 20s and then overcame the physical and mental challenges of a horrific head injury to be better than ever before.

• A winner of the Chelsea Player of the Year award when contested by a collection of all-time greats

• Part of 13 major trophy wins for the club

• The first choice in 2004/05 when the Premier League record of only 15 goals conceded was set, he at one stage went 1,025 minutes without letting in a goal

Thibaut Courtois

Only a prodigious talent could take Cech’s place as the regular between the posts and having developed extensively out on loan, the young Thibaut backed up Jose Mourinho’s selection decision by winning the Premier League in his first season contesting it.

Chelsea conceded the fewest goals. It was a trophy reclaimed two years later under Antonio Conte when our goals-against column showed only one goal more.

• Sixteen clean sheets in 2016/17 won the Premier League Golden Gloves

• Added to two league titles was a clean sheet at Wembley against Manchester United to secure an FA Cup winner’s medal

• A 6ft 7in frame gave him command in the air against Premier League attacks

Edouard Mendy

One of only two who can say they were in goal in a Chelsea Champions League final, Edou kept a clean sheet in Porto on the night the big trophy was lifted – as he had done in four other games in the knockout stage as Chelsea conceded just two goals.

That won him UEFA Champions League Goalkeeper of the Season and The Best FIFA Men’s Goalkeeper awards. Capable of making breathtaking saves, in his second season he won the UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup.

• Just under half of his appearances ended with a clean sheet – 49 out of 105

• While a Chelsea player, he was a hero for Senegal when he saved the decisive penalty to win them the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time

• Recorded five consecutive shut-outs in Champions League home fixtures, a first by the goalkeeper of an English club