As he so often does for Aston Villa, Emiliano Martinez played a pivotal role in our 1-0 win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
The 31-year-old would have been as disappointed and frustrated as anyone after conceding three goals in our defeat to Legia Warsaw last week, and so a response was to be expected.
READ MORE: Villa’s unsung hero continues to mature, develop into leadership role
Further, despite registering three clean sheets in seven appearances so far this season, Martinez has conceded 12 goals already. For an ambitious and driven player such as the Argentine World Cup winner, who has high standards and demands of himself and those around him, he will have been desperate to rack up another clean sheet this past weekend.
And that is exactly what he did as he proved to be highly influential in our 1-0 win, having made a string of decisive saves throughout the encounter in west London.
As seen in the highlights below, Martinez was superb in 1v1 situations, and that has become a trend given our desire to implement and perfect a high defensive line.
While it worked consistently for most of the game as we caught Chelsea players offside 10 times, there will be occasions where the opposition spring that trap, and we’ve seen it already this season.
More recently, Martinez produced a brilliant save to deny Eberechi Eze in our 3-1 win over Crystal Palace, and as seen below, the likes of Nicolas Jackson and Raheem Sterling were the latest to share his frustration at not being able to find the back of the net.
Now, it’s not exactly breaking news that the Argentine international is a world-class shot-stopper. However, while it’s easy for Ollie Watkins to receive the plaudits for his winning goal and invariably outfield players will receive much of the attention, Martinez continues to play a consistently decisive role between the posts for us.
Game after game he produces big moments that end up being decisive to the outcome. Whether it’s keeping us in a contest as we come under pressure or protecting a lead, the Villa defence has been exposed at times, but Martinez has stepped up to help us secure four wins in six to start the league campaign.
While he wasn’t able to replicate those heroics in Europe as our backline left him badly exposed in Warsaw, his leadership and experience will be integral in helping us set those high standards moving forward to get back on track and deal with the different dynamics of the Europa Conference League.
The hope is that as a defensive unit, we’ll be able to limit his involvement. However, we’ll likely need him to continue to come up with inspiring stops, and coupled with his organisation of the backline and his distribution, he’ll undoubtedly continue to be a pivotal figure in our pursuit of success this year.
He's top two and he's not two. 🌟
🇦🇷 @EmiMartinezz1 pic.twitter.com/xTHp65PJg8
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) September 25, 2023