Arsenal boosted their Champions League qualification hopes in a massive way against Aston Villa this afternoon.
Mikel Arteta’s outfit earned a hard-fought 1-0 victory away to the Villans.
Bukayo Saka’s volley from the edge of the box deceived Emiliano Martinez and ultimately gave Arsenal a potentially priceless victory, going four points clear of fifth-placed Manchester United.
One of the subplots before kickoff was Martinez coming up against the Gunners, whom he left for the Midlands club during the summer of 2020.
And Optus Sport commentator, Jim Proudfoot, spotted one interesting moment involving the Argentina international and two of his former teammates.
At one point, Granit Xhaka and Alexandre Lacazette blocked the 29-year-old goalkeeper and prevented him from quickly building play from the back.
And the commentator believes that the Arsenal duo used their knowledge of Martinez’s modus operandi to thwart him.
He said: “Xhaka and Lacazette with first-hand experience of being a teammate, knowing how he quickly to get the ball upfield, did everything they could to stop that happening.”
Martinez might take a little bit of stick from the Arsenal support for being unable to prevent Saka’s winner.
Yes, the South American got a hand to the effort, but the shot was taken from behind a sea of bodies in Martinez’s defence and honestly, there wasn’t much he could do.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
