ALBION No.1 Mathew Ryan has been hailed as one of the best goalkeepers in the Premier League.

The Australian international has kept eight clean sheets in his debut season with the Seagulls and saved two penalties in his last two away appearances at Everton and Stoke.

Only Davd De Gea, England pair Jordan Pickford and Jack Butland, and Lukasz Fabianski have made more stops for their clubs than World Cup-bound Ryan.

The former Valencia shot-stopper is also one of just 14 players, eight of them goalkeepers, to have played every minute of every match. Central defender Shane Duffy said: “He’s been excellent. At the start he was settling in but game-by-game he’s been brilliant.

“He’s been one of the best keepers in the league this year and his penalty saves summed it up.

“He’s a good talker, maybe not the biggest keeper in the league, but the agility he has – he wants to come for more crosses but he leaves it to us to head away.

“He’s getting better and better and he’s got a big summer coming up as well. It’s only going to help Australia if he’s playing like this.”

Ryan and Duffy both suffered defeats in friendlies for their countries last night.

Australia were beaten 4-1 by Norway in Oslo, while Duffy’s Republic of Ireland lost 1-0 in Turkey.

Tim Krul was in goal for Albion’s FA Cup exit at Manchester United but Ryan will return to maintain his ever-present Premier League record against Leicester at the Amex next Saturday.