Aston Villa: Robin Olsen has to step up vs Olympiacos as Emiliano Martinez suspension news emerges
Aston Villa battled through to the semi-finals of the Europa Conference League, but the penalty shoot-out victory over Lille did come at a cost.
Undisputed first-choice goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez was sent off in Thursday’s (18 April) topsy-turvy contest and is now set to serve a suspension.
There has been plenty of confusion whether the World Cup winner will have to sit out the first leg versus Olympiacos at Villa Park.
That is because, despite being shown a second yellow card for his antics in the shoot-out, Martinez was allowed to stay on the field.
Will Emiliano Martinez miss Aston Villa v Olympiacos match?
However, The Telegraph has reported [18 April] that Villa fully expect Martinez to miss the match with Greek heavyweights Olympiacos.
That will likely mean back-up keeper Robin Olsen being turned to, and the 34-year-old quite simply has to step up and prove himself.
Olsen has played six matches for Villa in all competitions this season, half of those in the Europa Conference League.
Two of those games came in the preliminary rounds when keeping a clean sheet home and away to Hibernian.
While Hibs may only have had five shots on target across the 180 minutes, Olsen still stood firm and kept a couple of shutouts.
Across the six games he has played, he has shipped eight goals, although half of those came in one game against Manchester City recently.
This season is too small a sample to work with, but Olsen’s 61.5 per cent save-percentage return is similar to that of last season (63.2 per cent).
As per FBref, that compares to 65.1 for Martinez this term, while the Argentinian has conceded 1.42 goals per 90 compared to 2.50 for Olsen.
Robin Olsen expected to start for Aston Villa
Martinez is also better when it comes to pass-completion percentage (83.3 compared to 75.9), and likewise recoveries per 90 (1.45 per 90 v one).
This is not to state the obvious, but Martinez is of course the better of the two goalkeepers. However, Olsen has proved he is capable of filling in.
In the 2-1 win over Legia Warsaw, for example – the last match Olsen started in Europe – he prevented 0.12 goals [Sofascore].
For general context, Martinez prevented 0.02 in the second leg against Lille when making two saves from inside the box and conceding twice.
Unai Emery does not have the luxury of putting Olsen into the side for the Premier League games between now and the Olympiacos tie.
However, if Martinez is indeed suspended for that first leg, there is no reason why Olsen cannot play his own part in Villa’s quest for some rare silverware.
In other Aston Villa news, Micah Richards was blown away by what he saw from a Villa player last week.
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