Goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez is a doubt for Aston Villa at home to Brentford in the Premier League on Wednesday (8.15pm GMT), manager Unai Emery has said.
Argentina international Martinez, who was crowned best goalkeeper in the world for a second consecutive year at the Ballon d’Or awards in October, was replaced at half-time during Villa’s 3-0 league defeat at Chelsea on Sunday.
“He has an issue in his hand,” said Emery, whose side have the joint-fewest clean sheets in this season’s top flight. “I don’t know how he is going to feel.”
The Boss on Brentford: “I want to dominate and control the game against the opposition but that is going to be very difficult. Their goalkeeper is playing fantastic, they have very good players in different highs of the pitch and they have players who are fast, skillful and play… pic.twitter.com/fmpmMzTiNr
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) December 3, 2024
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Emi Martinez injury
Emery said he expected Martinez to undergo more tests on Tuesday ahead of Villa’s attempt to end their eight-match winless run.
While the Villans have not conceded in any of their five Champions League matches, their only shut-out in the league came on October 6 at home to Manchester United, who had only scored five times in seven matches at that point.
Martinez had been ever-present in the league before suffering his injury, conceding at least two goals in each of his last four league appearances.
Villa vs Brentford: Emery praises Bees
Eighth-placed Brentford are a point above Villa in the table after earning seven points from their last nine, although no team in the division has taken fewer away points than the one secured by Thomas Frank’s team in their six matches on the road.
Emery called the Bees “one of the best consistent teams” in the division over the last year, adding that the visitors had “different ways” to hurt opponents.
On tomorrow night and our fans: “We will need them supporting us like they’re doing and of course, we need their energy. Hopefully they can transmit their energy, we can as well transmit to them our capacity to play being motivated being intense with good and positive energy and… pic.twitter.com/GCqzspITnv
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) December 3, 2024
“It’s not the Brentford I knew when I was [manager] at Arsenal in 2018,” he observed. “They are adding a lot of things tactically and playing brilliant football with the ball.
“They are competitive. They can use long balls and score from a second action. They can do combinations, building up, playing passes, progressing and using their qualities to score goals.
“Their high press is really strong, [as is] their position defensively when they have to low block. They have good players in transition.”
Victory could move Brentford sixth, while three points for Villa would put them in contention to rise as high as seventh.
