Bargain-buy Martinez keeps Seagulls at bay

WITH each passing game, Arsenal’s decision to let Emiliano Martinez leave is looking more and more foolish. Aston Villa’s £17million goalkeeper was the reason they did not lose this game last night.

Brighton’s players lined up to have a go and one by one, they saw their shots saved by Martinez.

As a result, Villa have beaten their points total from last season. They have 22 games to go to build upon this safety net. Europe? Why not?

Brighton left frustrated, naturally. They unleashed more than 20 shots and, on another night, Graham Potter’s players would be heading to their homes with three points to show for their frozen toes.

They should have led after Joel Veltman found the head of Alexis MacAllister, but the Argentinian could not keep it below the crossbar.

After half an hour, Villa had not managed a shot on target, and Ollie Watkins ran over to the technical area to change his boots. The £28m striker had struggled to get on the ball.

At the other end, Martinez was showing his value. First he denied Neal Maupay at the near post. Then he stopped a Leandro Trossard shot from finding the top corner.

His best first-half save came following a Brighton corner when Dan Burn flicked a header towards goal. It looked on its way in until Martinez pushed it wide.

The pressure on Villa was intense and they were glad to get to half-time at 0-0. They had offered nothing in attack. Ross Barkley, playing at No 10, had been anonymous.

At the start of the second half, Brighton goalkeeper Robert Sanchez had a rare touch of the ball, from Barkley’s attempt.

On the hour mark, we saw another magnificent save by Martinez. This time, Veltman had unleashed a vicious effort which was flying into the back of the net, until the visitors’ goalkeeper pushed it wide.

Danny Welbeck was an option on the bench, while Solly March was injured. Welbeck was introduced for the final 10 minutes as the hosts continued to probe and drew yet another fine save from Martinez.

Brighton came into this with only Manchester City on a better unbeaten run in the Premier League. There is certainly no shame in playing second fiddle to a team like Pep Guardiola’s, and they were playing with a swagger against Villa.

It was just unfortunate for them that Martinez was in one of those moods.