20 March 2023 , 16:34
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Emiliano Martinez insists he is planning to stay at Aston Villa after making history with the club.
The Argentine World Cup winner has been linked with a move away in the summer and previously said it would be “easy” to join a club in the Champions League. The keeper made his 99th Premier League appearance for Villa at the weekend and chalked up his 33rd clean sheet.
It takes him ahead of Mark Bosnich and Brad Friedel in the record books as they managed 32 clean sheets each from their first 100 appearances. Reflecting on beating Bournemouth 3-0, Martinez said: “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.”
Martinez, 30, who joined Villa in 2020 from Arsenal for £17million, is hoping there are more memorable times to come with Unai Emery’s side. He added: “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.
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“My family is happy at the club, my boy is obsessed with playing football and he plays for the under-6s in the academy. We’re loving our time here and hopefully there are many years to come.”
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Emiliano Martinez kept another clean sheet as Aston Villa saw off Bournemouth (Marc Atkins/Getty Images)Reflecting on the victory over Bournemouth, Emery told Match of the Day : "After the matches we lost to Arsenal and Leicester, the reaction has been fantastic. Today is maybe the best 90 minutes we played here since I arrived.
"We controlled the game with the ball. We conceded some chances to them, but I think it is normal because they are in a good moment. I'm happy today and I want to share it with the players and supporters. We have to rest a little bit but now we have a big challenge because we are slowly going up. We are looking up. It's important to have big ambitions and face big challenges. We have Chelsea in two weeks and we have to try and be consistent.
"Next step is top 10, but if we are ambitious you want to get to something more and look at the teams in the European positions. Of course, it is not in our hands to take a European place, but we have to try. We have to take this new challenge."