Emi Martinez proving he deserves Yahin award with Aston Villa displays
Emiliano Martinez’s performances for Aston Villa may not have been what won him the prestigious Yashin award at the Ballon d’Or ceremony, but his club form deserves recognition.
The Argentine goalkeeper’s performances on the way to helping his country win the World Cup in 2022, including an amazing stop in the final, saw the Aston Villa stopper walk away with the award for the best goalkeeper of the year.
It is widely accepted that he won the award due to his Argentina performances, but his displays at Villa Park have put him up there with the very best in the world in his position.
Martinez has been a crucial part of the Aston Villa side under Unai Emery which has currently gone six games unbeaten in all competitions, and he is proving his name deserves to be in the conversations with the best in the world.
The keeper ranks in the 90th percentile of goalkeepers in the top five leagues when it comes to post-shot xG-GA – which is essentially the number of shots he has stopped compared to how many would have likely resulted in goals. In a nutshell, he has prevented more goals than 90% of goalkeepers in the world. [FBref]
On top of that, he is in the 99th percentile for defensive actions outside the penalty area, proving his worth as a sweeper-keeper, and ranks in the 98th percentile for both crosses stopped per 90 and the percentage of crosses stopped, easing the burden on his defenders to head the ball away.
In Villa’s last three games, Martinez has been accurate with 17 long passes to kickstart counter-attacks for his side and continues to show how comfortable he is in possession as he completed 59 accurate passes in the Europa Conference League win against AZ. [Sofascore]
So while his heroics with Argentina may have pushed the tide in terms of winning the Lev Yashin trophy, his performances for Aston Villa have been a stable base on which he has been able to perform and impress to an especially high standard.
In other Aston Villa news, one Villa gem could be set for a first-team step-up.