Safe Hands: Courtney Brosnan

An instalment of the recurring Safe Hands goalkeeper feature with West Ham United’s Courtney Brosnan. She picks a reaction save tipping a cross over the bar in the opening game of the season against Arsenal, which gave her confidence she could play in the league, and another late in the Tottenham match at the London Stadium, the biggest crowd she has played in front of. Born in Livingston, New Jersey and capped by the Republic of Ireland, she says the hand-eye coordination she enjoyed in basketball drew her to goalkeeping, describes herself as explosive and powerful as a shot-stopper, and names the Ireland kit as her favourite shirt. She admires Alisson, Ederson, David de Gea, Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Iker Casillas and Tim Howard, loves high-intensity drills and dislikes the first dive of the warm-up.