The Premiership clean sheet table made for interesting reading when it was released this week.
Anyone still in any doubt about the value of the £1million Celtic fired Tottenham’s way for Joe Hart in August should take a quick glance at the stats.
Number one in the table. And very much undisputed number one at Celtic Park.
With six shut-outs from 11 games the former England keeper’s arrival has proved, as predicted in this column at the time, a monumental piece of business.
Celtic have gone from lurking close to the bottom of the Premiership goalkeeping standards table last season to arguably being top due to the impact of Hart between the sticks.
Not just his shot stopping ability but the 34-year-old’s commanding influence and leadership of those around him make his arrival every bit as important to Ange Postecoglou as that of Kyogo Furuhashi.
But it’s the other end of the table that serves up perhaps the biggest surprise.
Who’d have thought after last season’s record-breaking defensive record that no Rangers keeper would get a look in at the top seven places - even if you put them all together?
With only three clean sheets from 12 matches Rangers have conceded 11 goals in the Premiership so far - just two shy of their incredible tally for the entire 38-game season last year.
It begs the question of the champions and current leaders - just how far ahead might they be had the defensive standards of last season been maintained this time round?
And just who is the number one at Ibrox right now?
Allan McGregor made 27 league appearances last season in a stunning campaign where he turned back the clock and was deservedly rewarded with the SPFL Player of the Year prize.
Unfortunately the clocks don’t remain turned back forever. Steven Gerrard admitted before the St Mirren game a fortnight ago that the goalkeeper, who turns 40 in January, can’t go three games in a week any more.
The joints aren’t quite as well oiled as before and a large part of McGregor’s time off the park is spent in recovery.
Jon McLaughlin has proved more than able when called upon to step in, no more so than when deputising for McGregor early on last season. Is he still the understudy though? He’s got the nod for six of the league games so far.
And what of the future? Robby McCrorie was outstanding when thrust into two of the most intense games Rangers have faced this season - the 1-0 wins over Celtic and Alashkert - but hasn’t been seen since.
McLaughlin and McCrorie have shared the three league clean sheets but going by the big games and especially in Europe it’s still very much McGregor in possession of the number one title.
You just wonder if chopping and changing between the sticks for league duty is doing more harm than good to a backline that’s a far cry from the Invincibles iron curtain of 2020/21.
Three excellent goalkeepers, of that there is no doubt. But consistency of selection in the last line of defence is probably more important than any other area of the park in terms of building on-field relationships.
And if McGregor is still number one then perhaps his game time would be best served entirely on home soil, leaving the Europa stuff to the others.
That’s the be all and end all after all. Securing the defence of the title.
The rest of the top end of that shutout table - Craig Gordon, Zander Clark, Benjamin Siegrist, Matt Macey and Max Stryjek - proves the standard of goalkeeping in the top flight is close to an all-time high. That's before you even mention Jak Alnwick and Joe Lewis.
All outright first choice goalkeepers at their clubs.
Yet the Rangers number one conundrum looks no closer to being solved.
