Dean Smith Waxes Lyrical Over Martinez Performance Against Brighton
Aston Villa manager Dean Smith has expressed gratitude to goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez for almost single-handedly keeping out Brighton and Hove Albion in the Premier League on Saturday.
Villa and Brighton played out a goalless draw at the AMEX Stadium but things could have been entirely different had it not been the presence of Martinez in the visitors post as he made nine saves on the day to deny Graham Potters’ men.
Martinez’s nine saves were the most any goalkeeper has made while keeping a clean sheet in a Premier League game this season.
A £20m signing from Arsenal in the summer, Martinez has proven to be an inspired acquisition for Villa and his latest shutout against Brighton was his 12th in the top flight in 22 appearances.
Villa boss Smith was full of praise for the Argentina international after the game and thanked him for getting a point for his team on a difficult day.
"I'm really pleased with his performance," Smith told reporters after the match. "He made at least three top drawer saves with a couple straight at him. We didn't protect him well enough today.
"Emi's a fantastic goalkeeper and a great acquisition for Aston Villa but he'll be the first to admit that for the 12 clean sheets this season he's been protected really well. Today we didn't and we kept giving them the ball back and he was called into action too much.
"He was very good today. It was a one-man show at times, such was the sloppiness of our play."
