Emi Martinez was Aston Villa's last line of defence as they edged Lille in the penalty shoot-out.

Jonty Banks

Tue 2 May 2023 11:30, UK

Since signing at Aston Villa for a mere £17million in 2020, Emi Martinez has transformed himself into one of the world’s top goalkeepers.

The Argentine number one was famously the match-winner for his country in the Qatar World Cup final, saving two penalties on the way to victory and scooping up the Golden Glove in the process.

And under Unai Emery’s guidance since the World Cup, Martinez has continued to move from strength to strength, keeping nine clean sheets in 19 Premier League outings.

However, the 30-year-old has in fact been one of the Premier League’s best goalkeepers since 2018 in one particular area: One-on-ones prevented.

As was revealed on Monday Night Football (1 May), and as shared by Football Daily, Martinez is the 5th best goalkeeper out of 78, in the years 2018-22 for goals prevented from one-on-one situations.

Liverpool shot-stopper Alisson is streets ahead of the rest with a +13.1 prevented, followed by Lukasz Fabianski (+8.6), Martin Dúbravka (+6.6) and Emerson (+6.5), before Martinez, who comes in with a total of +5.7.

In a race for Europe that could be defined by the barest of margins, stops of this nature could be season-defining, so therefore having a man of Martinez’s quality in between the sticks is a great asset for Emery.

Fans across the world saw the Villa number one make a huge last-minute wonder save to deny Randal Kolo Muani in the World Cup final, spreading himself eagle-wide to close down the French forward and pull off the stop with his left leg.

Martinez will look to instil this nerveless style of keeping into Aston Villa’s fight for Europe, which still sees the club take on Spurs, Liverpool and Brighton from their last four games of the season.

So far this season, Martinez has been a standout keeper in the Premier League, sitting in the 76th percentile of keepers for save percentage (73.3%) and the top 20% of goalkeepers for defensive actions outside the penalty area (1.81 per 90). [FBREF]

Considering the high line which Manchester United exposed in the 1-0 defeat last weekend, Martinez’s combined ability to play as a sweeper keeper and deny attackers from one-on-one situations are two traits that suit Aston Villa down to a T.

With just four points splitting Liverpool in 5th position and Brighton in 8th place, settling these European places in the final weeks of the season could come down to the man standing between the sticks for each side.

In other Aston Villa news, concerns about Ollie Watkins have been examined by a BBC Sport pundit.