Emi Martinez admits Villa are in title race but were lucky to beat Arsenal | OneFootball

Aston Villa appear to be in the Premier League title chase. Even their goalie, Emi Martinez, believes so.

In midweek, they defeated Manchester City 1-0, and on Saturday night, they defeated Arsenal 1-0. With 35 points from this win, they fortify their position 3 in the league standings.

Other than Villa being in the title race, based on these recent results, one may argue that there is little difference between the defending champions and Arsenal, considering that they all lost to Villa. However, according to Aston Villa goalkeeper Emi Martinez, this is not the case. The ex-Arsenal goalie said after the win over Arsenal that they were completely in control against Manchester City, but that wasn’t the case against Arsenal, who he said made them suffer practically the entire game.

“When you beat City and Arsenal in a week, one game controlling them like I’ve never seen Man City being controlled, then suffering against Arsenal for 85 minutes and managing to win again… I’m a believer, mate,” Martinez said when asked if they were in the title race.

Overall, Arsenal were wasteful, but you can’t look at that loss to Villa and think Aston Villa performed better than Arsenal.

Aston Villa failed to deal with Arsenal’s midfield and wingers, who completely pushed their defenders from left to right and had two disallowed goals and should have been awarded a penalty. Arsenal’s effort against Villa on Saturday was far superior to Manchester City’s midweek performance; it is comforting to hear Martinez openly say that.

Sam P