Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez was replaced at half-time in our win over Hibernian due to a small injury issue.
Albeit the 30-year-old didn’t have much to do in our 5-0 win at Easter Road on Wednesday night, he had looked comfortable enough in the opening 45 minutes and looked set to complete the first leg of our Europa Conference League play-off round tie.
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However, he was replaced by Robin Olsen for the second half, and naturally that sparked concern that he had picked up a problem given it’s highly unlikely that he was taken off to be rested.
As per the Athletic’s Jacob Tanswell, he has reported that Martinez did indeed experience some small pain in the first half, and so that was the reasoning behind the decision to take him off.
With little in the way of additional detail as to what injury it is and how severe it could be, there is concern ahead of our encounter with Burnley at Turf Moor on Sunday as to whether the Argentine shot-stopper will be available for selection.
Of course, the hope is that it was more precautionary than anything, and Villa ultimately didn’t want to aggravate the issue in a game we were comfortably ahead in already by the break.
Birmingham Mail’s John Townley has reported that Martinez himself asked to be substituted, and so again, until Emery provides an update in his pre-match press conference later in the week after tests are perhaps carried out, it’s unclear if our number one goalkeeper is concerned by the problem or simply didn’t want to take any risks.
Martinez is a fundamental figure in the side not only due to his goalkeeping ability, but also the leadership and organisational skills that he brings to the team, and so losing him for any game will be a blow.
In turn, it’s hoped that there is positive news when an update is provided and he’ll be available for Burnley, as the expectation is that with such a commanding lead in our Europa Conference League tie, we’ll be able to rotate and rest him for the second leg against Hibernian next week anyway.
As seen below, Martinez sounded positive enough after the game in his social media post…
I love European nights 😍
Let’s finish the job next week at Villa park! Big thank you to the travelling fans ❤️Gran resultado afuera de casa a terminar la llave en el Villa Park 🙌🧤 pic.twitter.com/SyxE0An38Q
— Emi Martínez (@emimartinezz1) August 23, 2023
