Adding to their misery following a 4-1 thrashing at the hands of Crystal Palace, an Aston Villa star is already an early injury doubt to face Cardiff City in the FA Cup this weekend.
Aston Villa injury news
The Villans finally made a strong statement in their comeback victory over Chelsea last weekend, which followed an impressive 2-2 draw against Liverpool. And as a trip to Selhurst Park awaited, it looked like an easy bet that Unai Emery‘s side would add to their impressive form. But that turned out to be far from the case.
Once again, the Midlands club took one step forward only to take two steps back in the space of one week and one damaging defeat against Crystal Palace.
Now four points adrift of the Champions League places, Aston Villa must park their European ambitions and turn their attention towards Cardiff City and the last 16 of the FA Cup, where they’ll be hoping to avoid yet another unexpected result. To do that, however, they may have to secure victory without one key man.
As confirmed by Emery, Emiliano Martinez is now an early injury doubt to face Cardiff after coming off at half-time against Crystal Palace through an ill-timed blow.
Emery told reporters: “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 (the injury). We have to test him.”
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Aston Villa were thrased 4-1 away to Crystal Palace on Tuesday evening.
Likely left to turn towards Robin Olsen again this weekend, Aston Villa will hope that Martinez’s injury does not result in a lengthy absence with just 10 Premier League games remaining to secure Champions League qualification.
Aston Villa would miss “decisive” Martinez
A World Cup winner and the man who has been crowned Europe’s best goalkeeper for two consecutive seasons, there’s no doubt that Aston Villa would feel the full effect of Martinez’s absence should he miss a number of games.
The Argentina hero hasn’t always been at his very best at Villa Park this season, but remains the undisputed number one and arguably one of the best shot-stoppers in the Premier League.
Emery has always been well aware of Martinez’s talent too, praising his goalkeeper in last season’s penalty shoot-out victory against Lille in the Europa Conference League last eight.
The Spaniard told reporters: “He is being successful individually and with both Argentina and Villa. Having been successful with Argentina, he is progressively getting better with Villa. He is decisive in a lot of matches and of course, he is one of the best goalkeepers. The first, second, third? For me he is the best.”
With the chance to bounce back from defeat against Cardiff, Villa won’t have time to worry about Martinez’s injury. Instead, they must put on an emphatic and convincing display against Championship opposition in the FA Cup.
