Unai Emery confirms new Aston Villa injury blow ahead of Fulham clash

Unai Emery is hopeful goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez will be fit in time to face Fulham on Sunday afternoon but admits there are no guarantees.

Martinez missed the 1-0 Europa League victory over Bologna on Thursday night due to a minor injury, as revealed by Birmingham World ahead of kick off. Emery has now confirmed this was the case, revealing that the World Cup winner missed a training session in the lead-up to the Bologna clash and is being monitored closely.

“He has a small injury,” Emery told Birmingham World in the post-match press conference. “He couldn’t train yesterday and he was not available for today. Hopefully, it’s a small injury, I don’t know exactly – but it’s a kick.

“Hopefully tomorrow or Saturday, he can start training with us and be available for Sunday. But Marco Bizot, he played a fantastic game today and it’s very important as well to use different players in different positions and getting confidence playing today like Marco Bizot did,” Emery added.

Will Martinez play against Fulham?

It’s difficult to say with certainty either way whether Martinez will play against Fulham or not, but Emery seems confident that the issue won’t keep him out for the long term. It appears to be something that might hamper Martinez’s preparation for the game but perhaps won’t be enough to keep him out entirely.

Bizot’s performance against Bologna reassures Villa supporters that all will be fine regardless of Martinez’s situation, as the Dutchman was pivotal to Villa claiming all three points to kick off the league phase. Bizot made seven saves in total to preserve the clean sheet – including an acrobatic stop to deny Martin Vitik at the death.

The display was reminiscent of Bizot’s debut against Newcastle United, the 0-0 draw to open the Premier League campaign. Bizot followed that particular performance up with a poor showing in the 3-0 defeat to Crystal Palace, though, so it’s hoped he can better his consistency.

If Martinez doesn’t feature on Sunday, it will continue his run without an appearance at Villa Park. The Argentine hasn’t played on home soil since the 2-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur back in May, when he appeared to emotionally wave his farewells.