Express & Star

Emi Martinez: I love being at Aston Villa

Emi Martinez has again expressed his happiness at Villa after hitting another club clean sheet landmark.

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The shutout in Saturday’s 3-0 win over Bournemouth was the goalkeeper’s 33rd in 99 Premier League matches since joining from Arsenal, equalling the number Brad Friedel and Mark Bosnich achieved in their first 100 games for the club.

Martinez previously matched Friedel for the number of clean sheets in a Premier League season during his first year at Villa Park. He has since seen his reputation soar further after helping Argentina win the World Cup.

He said: “My career went through the roof since I joined the club. I’ve always said I’m grateful to this club and I love being here. My family’s happy; my boy is obsessed with playing football and he plays for under-6s in the academy.

“We’re loving our time here and hopefully there are many years to come.”

Perfectionist Martinez has previously admitted to obsessing over clean sheets and added: “It’s a great feeling. If we had won 3-1, I would go home and not be able to sleep for hours because I always think about what I could have done better to keep the clean sheet.

“I’m very ambitious, I’m so driven to improve; I try to transmit that to the back four and to the starting XI.”