Joe Whitworth interview: Exeter's in-form goalkeeper thriving on loan from Crystal Palace

Joe Whitworth interview: Exeter's in-form goalkeeper thriving on loan from Crystal Palace

Just over a fortnight after his 19th birthday, childhood Crystal Palace fan Joe Whitworth had boxed off a lifelong dream.

With the Eagles' first and second-choice goalkeepers - Vincente Guaita and Sam Johnstone - sidelined, on March 15 2023, the teenager was drafted in for not only his Premier League debut, but his first game in senior football, away at Brighton.

"On the day, the gaffer, Patrick Vieira, knocked on my door and told me I was playing," he recalls in an interview with Sky Sports.

"The game was at 7.30pm and this was probably about 2.30pm. We'd had a few meetings and he told me afterwards. I was beaming and I couldn't wait to tell my mum and dad.

"The whole of my mum's side of the family are Palace fans, so I had a season ticket from when I was around seven or eight and watched them every single home game, pretty much, until I was a first-year scholar at 16/17. My grandad, grandma, mum and brothers all still go now.

"I feel like it was a blessing in disguise to be told on the day because I didn't really have loads of time to think about it and the magnitude of the game. I was just focused on winning the game for my team.

"Being able to do it in front of my family was the main thing for me. To make them proud and see their faces when I was playing was amazing."

Palace lost that game 1-0, but it would have been more had it not been for a naturally inspired performance from Whitworth, who became the club's youngest goalkeeper in the Premier League on the night.

Reporting from the Amex Stadium on the night, Sky Sports' Charlotte Marsh wrote: "It's been a good evening's work from Whitworth. He's made two crucial saves in the second half alone.

"If Guaita is to have an extended spell on the sidelines, the 19-year-old would arguably be a worthy deputy based on what we have seen here."

He played in the 4-1 defeat at Arsenal four days later, too. Despite the scoreline, he did not disgrace himself whatsoever.

Playing in the Premier League was a dream come true but there was never any real possibility of Whitworth becoming Crystal Palace's No 1 there and then.

He played 17 times in the Premier League 2 and captained the Eagles in the second half of the 2023/24 campaign, but appeared on the bench in the Premier League just once and needed to go out on loan to build on his brief experience of senior football.

There were conversations with several League One and League Two clubs, but one stood out from the pack. By Whitworth's own admission, Exeter has been "the perfect club".

It is no wonder. The stats speak for themselves.

He has the joint-most clean sheets across the Premier League and the EFL (9) - along with Sheffield United's Michael Cooper and Leeds' Illan Meslier - and the best save percentage of any EFL goalkeeper to have played at least 300 minutes this term (83.6 per cent).

No club in League One or League Two has conceded fewer goals than the 10 Exeter have shipped in 14 games so far.

To put up numbers like that, having played only two first-team games beforehand, is remarkable.

Being the level-headed character he is, Whitworth is very modest about it.

"I wouldn't say that I look at my stats that much," he says. "I'm not massively obsessed with them because sometimes there are situations you can't control.

"The main thing for me is wanting as many clean sheets as possible by the end of the season. That's what motivates me to perform the best I can every week and to be the best player I can be.

"At the start of the season, I said I wanted to come in and be consistent with my performances and I feel like I have been doing that recently. Touch wood I can continue to affect the team, be a leader and lead the team with my performances at the same time."

Between September 21 and October 17, Whitworth kept five clean sheets in succession in the league.

It was another incredible personal achievement, yet one he insists is down to the unity of the team.

"That was amazing," he recalls. "The games we played were all tough games and the team was outstanding through that period, as we have been mostly through the season. It was a massive boost in confidence for me but also for the team.

"We have a really strong defensive unit and, like I've said before, it's the whole team. We are really together, we love playing for each other and we work really hard for each other. We've got a great understanding.

"That's what sets us apart from other teams. We have a great group, everyone gets on with each other off the pitch really well and we've worked on our camaraderie off the pitch, which has definitely helped us on the pitch."

Whitworth nods in agreement when it is put to him that talk of a promotion that may or may not happen six months down the line is a pointless exercise right now.

But is he content with the situation he and his team-mates' currently find themselves in?

"Yes and no," he says, after a pause to consider the re-framed question.

"We've had some great results but we've lost some games we could have won - or at least got points from. The table is so tight and every week matters.

"Yes, we're content with some of the points we've got, but we can definitely perform better and put more consistent performances in.

"With Christmas coming up and the amount of games there are, we want to really kick on and put as many points on the board as possible. We want to be up near the top of the table, as high as possible."

He has bought into the project and the common goal is at the forefront of his mind. A promotion by the age of 21 - or five, given he was born on February 29 2004 - is an attractive prospect.

The short-term target is clean sheets. "I want more and more and more," he adds.

Continue in this manner and it might not be long before current Crystal Palace No 1 Dean Henderson is looking over his shoulder…