Emiliano Martinez’s 2019/20 campaign was one of the stories of the season.
After eight years and six loans, Martínez finally got a run in the Arsenal first-team.
After Bernd Leno got injured, Martínez had finally earned his place.
And by the end of the season, fans were even beginning to question whether Leno was better than Martínez.
After his astonishing season, the Argentinian earned himself a move to Aston Villa in a deal worth almost £20million.
This tactical analysis will look at why Martínez was such a wanted keeper by the end of the 2019/20 season and how he could fit into Aston Villa’s tactics.
We will analyse his shot-stopping, sweeping ability and passing to evaluate why he is such a strong goalkeeper.
We will also compare him to Leno to see if Arsenal made the correct decision in selling Martínez.
How Does Martínez Rank Amongst Premier League Keepers?
PS xG +/- per 90 is a good stat to analyse how many goals goalkeepers have saved above what they were expected to.
Martínez saved 3.9 goals above expected last season, but given his limited game time, he has the best per-90 stat in the Premier League.
The 28-year-old saved 0.46 goals above expected per 90.
The graph below uses this stat, along with the shot difficulty he faced, calculated from PS xG per shot on target.
As we can see, Martínez ranks incredibly well in terms of shot-stopping.
Although he doesn’t face an above-average shot difficulty, he has the highest PS xG +/- per 90 value.
