Aston Villa suffer huge injury blow as Unai Emery confirms that Emi Martinez felt pain before being subbed off at half time against Crystal Palace.
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Aston Villa dealt Martinez injury blowGoalkeeper was subbed off at half-time against PalaceMartinez unhappy with lack of clean sheetsFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?
Emery was forced to substitute his star goalkeeper at half-time as Robin Olsen replaced the Argentine. The Villans eventually lost the clash 4-1 at Selhurst Park, and after the match, the manager confirmed that the World Cup-winning custodian had left the field after he felt some pain. The defeat forced Aston Villa to drop down to the 10th position on the league table.
AdvertisementWHAT UNAI EMERY SAID
Speaking to reporters, the Spanish manager said: "He was feeling yesterday a little bit of pain. He trained and today he felt good in the warm-up. In the first half, he told us he was feeling some pain so we decided to change him. I don’t exactly know (the injury). We have to test him."
AFPTHE BIGGER PICTURE
The Spanish coach also expressed his concern about the team's lack of clean sheets this season. Villa have conceded a goal in all of their last 10 league matches and have kept only two clean sheets in their last 21 outings.
The coach added: "We were speaking about clean sheets with Emi Martinez and he is concerned. He is of course, as a goalkeeper, conceding more goals than normal. We are being demanding because we are not happy — especially him. He is not happy when we are conceding a lot of goals and chances. And I think on Saturday against Chelsea, after my analysis, we conceded more chances than normal as well. This is what I am really focused on now."
AFPWHAT NEXT?
Aston Villa will be back in action on Friday as they take on Cardiff City in an FA Cup fifth-round clash.