Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
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 the world's best goalkeeper for the second year in a row at the Ballon d'Or awards in October, was substituted at half-time during Villa's 3-0 league defeat by Chelsea on Sunday.
“He's got a problem with his arm,” said Emery, whose side have the joint-fewest clean sheet in a first season this season. “I don't know how he's going to feel.”
The Brentford boss: “I want to dominate and control the game against the opposition, but it will be very difficult. Their goalkeeper is playing fantastically, they have very good players at different ends of the pitch and they have players who are fast, skilful and play… pic.twitter.com/fmpmMzTiNr
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) December 3, 2024
Injury to Emmy Martinez
Emery said he expected Martinez to have more tests on Tuesday ahead of Villa's bid to end their eight-game winless streak.
Although the Villans have not conceded in any of their five Champions League games, their only league shutout came on October 6 at home to Manchester United, who had scored just five goals in seven games at that point.
Martinez was an ever-present in the league prior to his injury, conceding at least two goals in each of his last four league appearances.
Villa v Brentford: Emery praises the Bees
Eighth-placed Brentford are a point above Villa in the table after taking seven points from their last nine, although no team in the division has taken fewer points away from home than Thomas Franck's side have secured in their six away games.
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 their opponents.
Tomorrow night and our fans: “We will need them to support us the way they do and of course we need their energy. We hope that they can transfer their energy, we can also transfer to them our capacity to play motivated and 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 remarked. “They add a lot of things tactically and play brilliant football with the ball.
“They are competitive. They can use long balls and score from the second action. They can make combinations, build, play passes, advance and use their qualities to score goals.
“Their high pressure is really strong, (as is) their defensive positioning when they have to block down low. “They have good players in transition.”
A win could move Brentford up to sixth, while three points for Villa would put them in contention to climb as high as seventh.
