Unai Emery handed new boost at Aston Villa as Emi Martinez update emerges
It may feel as though the international break only just came and went, but Aston Villa already have another stoppage looming on the horizon.
Unai Emery’s side have three big games to play before the next gap in the domestic calendar, with Premier League games against Ipswich Town and Manchester United either side of a Champions League showdown with Bayern Munich.
While the Villans’ focus will be firmly on those three matches, Emery has already been handed a surprise boost ahead of the break after a new Emi Martinez update emerged.
The Villa stopper will miss Argentina’s next two international fixtures in October having been handed a ban by FIFA following “offensive” behaviour during World Cup qualifiers in September [Daily Mail, 28 September].
What did Emi Martinez do while away with Argentina?
The news of this suspension may be bad for Argentina, but it can only be a good thing for Emery and Villa as it means their keeper is unlikely to pick up an injury during the international break.
Martinez was excellent for the Villans as they got their Champions League campaign off to a win against Young Boys in Switzerland.
According to Fotmob, the stopper made five saves over the course of the 90 minutes as he managed to keep a clean sheet despite facing an xG of 0.29.
On top of that, the 32-year-old commanded his penalty area excellently as he made 14 ball recoveries and two high claims in the box to limit the attacking threat the home side was able to produce.
When compared to other goalkeepers in the Premier League last term, few were better at keeping the ball out of their net than the Aston Villa number one.
According to Fbref, the Villa star overperformed his expected goals faced by an average of 0.2 every 90 minutes last season, a figure which places him in the top 11 per cent of the division’s keepers.
If those stats were extrapolated over the course of a 38-match Premier League season, that would mean that Martinez would concede 7.6 fewer goals than he should have done according to the xG model.
On top of that, few keepers in the Premier League are as dominant as the Villans stopper when it comes to preventing crosses.
On average, Martinez prevented 1.34 crosses per 90 minutes last term, which sees him sit in the 92nd percentile of his peers.
Against Wolves last time out in the Premier League, the Argentina international showed his ability with the ball at his feet as he completed an impressive 85 per cent of his 26 attempted passes, including one accurate long-range effort.
Few keepers in the English top flight complete as many passes as Martinez who on average attempted 37.91 a game last term, more than 88 per cent of keepers.
That is partly because Emery is reluctant to see his keeper go long and gift the opposition possession. Last term, the 32-year-old attempted fewer launched passes per 90 minutes than 67 per cent of goalkeepers.
Will Emi Martinez be suspended for Aston Villa matches after FIFA ban?
Villa tend to be an awful lot more successful in the Premier League when Martinez starts games. Last season, Emery’s side lost only seven of the 34 league matches the keeper started, or only 20.6 per cent of matches.
When the Argentine international didn’t start, the Villans won only one of their four matches or 75 per cent of the games he missed. Keeping him fit and available is crucial to Emery’s success at Villa Park.
Hopefully, missing out on Argentina’s matches with Venezuela and Bolivia will ensure that he can avoid any potential injury setbacks and be ready to crack back on at Villa Park after the international break.
In other Aston Villa news, the Villans’ ticket prices have been labelled “unrealistic” after new Champions League developments
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