‘Wonderful’: BBC pundit loves what Aston Villa player did in 34th minute v Southampton

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Aston Villa may be in dire straits at present, but one player continues to emerge with credit despite his team’s poor form.

That player is Emiliano Martinez, who was very much the Villans’ man of the match on Friday as Dean Smith’s side fell to yet another defeat.

Villa fell to a 1-0 defeat at Southampton, courtesy of Adam Armstrong’s third-minute rocket from just outside the box.

This condemned the claret-and-blue side to a fifth loss in a row and left them three points above the Premier League relegation zone.

It’s the first time Smith has ever lost five on the spin in the league in his 484-game managerial career spanning the last decade.

Martinez had virtually no chance against Armstrong’s ferocious effort, but did all he could to keep Villa in the game.

Southampton clocked up 10 corners throughout the game but the Argentine was equal to them, showing safe hands.

Martinez made two standout saves in the game – the first in the 34th minute to deny James Ward-Prowse’s goalbound 20-yard effort, the second in the 66th minute to thwart Che Adams’ superb looping header.

BBC Sport pundit Michael Brown, commentating on BBC Radio 5 Live, gave his thoughts on the first stop just after it happened.

“James Ward-Prowse hit it perfectly,” he said (5 Nov, 20:35). “It’s rising.

“Emiliano Martinez recovers well with good footwork. It’s a great one for the cameras with the old reverse arm. It’s a wonderful save.”

Villa have a lot of work to do and the board will certainly have some thinking to do about whether Dean Smith is right for the club going forward.

One thing’s for sure though – with Martinez in between the sticks, they’ll have very few problems in goal.