Aston Villa will reportedly have Emiliano Martinez back available for our trip to Olympiacos after his injury setback.
The 31-year-old was forced off at half-time in our 2-2 draw with Chelsea on April 27 with a hamstring problem, and he subsequently missed games against Olympiacos and Brighton as a result.
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While he served his suspension in the Europa Conference League last time out too, it had been hoped that he would be able to return for the second leg of our semi-final tie with the Greek giants, as we look to keep our hopes of winning silverware this season alive.
According to Argentine journalist Gaston Edul, Martinez will return on Thursday night in Piraeus, as Villa look to overturn a 4-2 deficit from the first meeting last week.
Robin Olsen has deputised for the World Cup winner during his absence, and although the experienced Swedish stalwart impressed at Brighton on Sunday, there is still undoubtedly a massive drop off from Martinez given what he brings to the side.
Not only does he possess elite goalkeeping abilities with his decisive saves and presence in the box, but his experience, leadership and mentality will all be crucial in our next two games as we try to stay on track to achieve two major objectives this season.
Further, Martinez has proven to be an excellent fit for the style of football that Emery wants us to play, particularly with his ability to sweep up danger behind our high defensive line, and so that all makes us a more difficult side to break down and score goals against.
While we obviously need goals in Greece, a clean sheet will be imperative to setting the foundation for our comeback. It’s hoped that the report above from Edul proves to be accurate and that Martinez is back in the Villa XI this week to help play a major role in our pursuit of success.
Villa themselves have since dropped a significant hint that Martinez is back available, as seen in their tweet below on Tuesday afternoon, which seemingly shows the World Cup winner back in group training ahead of the squad travelling out to Greece.
Ready to give everything.#Believe pic.twitter.com/ehzIqJaEIY
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) May 7, 2024