Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has confirmed that Emiliano Martinez felt pain in his back during the warm-up ahead of our win over Brighton in midweek.
The 33-year-old was initially named in the starting line-up by the club, but shortly after, they provided an update to confirm that he had withdrawn from the squad entirely and that Marco Bizot would start in his place.
While his Dutch teammate went on to experience a mixed night, albeit it ended with a win and a decisive late save to help us get over the line, there was concern over how severe the issue that Martinez suffered was.
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As is the case at this stage of the season, Villa have quick turnarounds between games as we now prepare to face Arsenal at home on Saturday after our 4-3 win over the Seagulls in midweek, and it remains to be seen if Martinez will be available for selection for that encounter.
The Argentine international was shown on the live broadcast on Sky Sports sat on the bench with his teammates and so that would suggest that it isn’t anything too serious, but Emery did confirm that it was a back problem and so time will tell if that will be an ongoing issue for Martinez in the coming days.
“He was feeling pain in his back,” Emery is quoted as saying by BBC Sport. “He couldn’t even do a warm-up normally. We have Marco and Marco is a fantastic guy and professional.”
Bizot showed earlier this season that he can undoubtedly be a reliable deputy between the sticks when called upon, and while it must have been difficult for him to be flung into the game at short notice, if he’s needed to start against Arsenal this weekend, he’ll no doubt benefit from more time to prepare and put in another solid shift for the team.
Nevertheless, having been decisive in our win over Wolves last weekend, it’s hoped that Martinez isn’t sidelined by his back issue, as we’ll need him for what promises to be a critical run of fixtures in the remainder of December.
