Aston Villa journalist Mat Kendrick has been sharing his praise for Villa goalkeeper Emi Martinez after his latest performance for the club in their recent 0-0 draw against Wolves in the Premier League.
This comes after Kendrick recently co-hosted a recent episode of the Birmingham Mail’s Claret & Blue Podcast where he spoke about a number of topics concerning Dean Smith’s side.
On the subject of Martinez, who kept a clean sheet during the draw against Nuno Espirito Santo’s team at the weekend, Kendrick had this to say about the shot-stopper. (15.00)
He said: “With the exception of that game [vs West Ham United], I can’t think of a single occasion where he’s let Villa down really.
“Would Villa have been relegated without him? No, I don’t think so because they’d have had a goalkeeper who would come in and probably been a 9/10 goalkeeper if it was Tom Heaton, rather than a 9.5/10 goalkeeper if it was Emi Martinez, but he has been brilliant.
“Without wishing to jinx it, I can’t see him not going on and beating this record of Brad Friedel’s in terms of clean sheets and I hope he does, and I hope he ends the season with the most clean sheets in the Premier League as well and gets the Golden Glove.”
Villa signed Martinez back in the previous summer transfer window from fellow Premier League side Arsenal for a fee of £15.66 million.
Since arriving at Villa Park, the 28-year-old, who is currently valued at £16.2 million, has played every minute of Villa’s 26 Premier League games so far this season, conceding 27 goals and keeping 14 clean sheets along the way (per Transfermarkt).
TIF Thoughts on Mat Kendrick’s comments on Martinez and his season with Villa so far…
Taking into account how only Manchester City have managed to keep more clean sheets that Villa so far this season with 15 compared to Villa’s 14 and the fact that he has earned himself an overall season rating of 7.07/10, making him Villa’s fifth highest rated player for this season just goes to show how important he has been for the team since his arrival.
Has Martinez been Villa's best summer signing?
Yes
No
In our view, if Martinez does end up winning the Golden Glove by the end of the season, this would just further prove how much of a great signing he has been for Villa.