Aston Villa suffered another injury concern in our 4-1 defeat to Crystal Palace in midweek, after Emiliano Martinez was forced off with an issue.
The 32-year-old was replaced by Robin Olsen at half-time at Selhurst Park on Tuesday night, which in turn raised concern over whether he had suffered an injury setback during the encounter.
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Having been an almost ever-present so far this season and given his experience, quality and influence in the side, the last thing that Unai Emery needs is for the Argentine shot-stopper to be ruled out with an issue, but the Villa boss confirmed after the game that Martinez asked to be taken off.
“He was feeling some pain,” he said after the game, as quoted by BBC Sport. “Even yesterday, he trained well, but before the match he felt better and felt confident to play.
“At half-time he told us he was not feeling good. So we decided to change him.”
It remains to be seen if further tests and scans are required to determine the severity of the issue, and in turn whether or not Martinez will now miss any playing time as we have another quick turnaround between games as we host Cardiff City in the FA Cup on Friday night.
The likelihood is that Robin Olsen will come in to deputise for him, but regardless of who starts between the posts, Villa and Emery must now find solutions and fixes for our woeful defensive record so far this season.
After our heavy midweek defeat to Palace, we’ve now conceded 45 goals in 28 Premier League games thus far, giving us the sixth worst defensive record in the top flight.
That simply isn’t good enough or sustainable if we want to compete at the top level and continue to progress and develop into a top team, and so while it would certainly help to have our first-choice personnel available week in and week out, we have to be more robust and solid defensively.
That said, having been without Pau Torres, Boubacar Kamara, Amadou Onana, Matty Cash, Ezri Konsa, Tyrone Mings and others at various points in recent times, it has undoubtedly made our job harder, and so ideally we’ll have better luck on the injury front in the coming weeks and months.
Our inability to keep clean sheets has been a major headache this year, but it’s hoped that Martinez is available and starting as we look to rectify that, rather than having to do it without him.
