Unai Emery, the Aston Villa manager, has criticized goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez for his role in Arsenal’s fourth goal, scored by Gabriel Martinelli.
Arsenal secured a crucial 4-2 victory over Aston Villa in a highly entertaining Premier League encounter on Saturday, with young Brazilian forward Gabriel Martinelli emerging as the hero of the night with a well-taken brace.
However, despite the Gunners’ impressive performance, there was some post-match controversy, as Villa boss Unai Emery criticised former Arsenal goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez for his role in the game-changing fourth goal.
After going up for a corner in the hopes of helping his side find an equaliser, Martinez was caught out of position, leaving an empty net for Martinelli to tap in the decisive goal.
Emery, speaking exclusively to talkSPORT, revealed that he was far from pleased with the goalkeeper’s decision to go up for the corner, stating that he had never instructed his goalkeepers to take such a risk, as the statistical data suggests that teams who take this approach are more likely to concede than to score.
“Our game plan is, of course, quality really and on the pitch they have to take the decision.
“He decided in the last action to go to the corner offensively, but I don’t like it.
“But I told him nothing, before or after because in all my career I have never told our goalkeepers to do it and the statistical data is going against the teams that are going with the goalkeeper more than scoring any goals.”
Despite this criticism, Emery did not confront Martinez about the decision, instead opting to let him learn from the experience and make better decisions in future matches.
Villa had shown promise in the first half, leading many to believe that they could beat the Premier League title chasers, but Arsenal’s second-half resurgence and Martinelli’s clinical finishing ultimately proved too much for the Midlands club.