Nottingham Forest’s game against Aston Villa was numbingly uneventful until one of the greatest saves you’ll ever see lit up the game. Emiliano Martinez, you little dancer.
Premier League match against Forest villa Not worth an article at all, but sometimes a single moment is enough to impact over 700 words. That’s the case here, it’s not a goal, a red card, a referee’s decision but a truly world-class goalkeeper that keeps us typing.
Villa goalkeeper Emi Martinez has been one of the best in the world since moving to the Midlands, going from Arsenal outcast to World Cup winner and two-time winner of the Yashin Cup, which is awarded each winter Awarded to the best goalkeeper in the world.
Martinez was criticized for the first time in his Villa career, mainly for his worrying distribution. He struggled against Chelsea and made a mistake that led to a goal in the Champions League win over Leipzig in midweek. A man of his consistency and importance was allowed to slump a bit, but he came out of it resolutely, in the process giving a game that desperately needed a shot in the arm.
In the embers of the 2022 World Cup final, Martinez made one of the most iconic saves in football history, denying France’s Randall Kolo Mouani. If contextualised, this would be the greatest save of all time. He had an equally impressive goal against Forest, although it was slightly Not too important.
Nicolás Domingos was the unlucky Forest player whose jaw hit the ground as he watched his close-range header sail across the goal line. The buzz at the City Ground sounded like a goal had been scored – which made the game even better.
As Forest licked their wounds, Villa took the lead through Jhon Duran, the team’s other instinctive star.
Duran is perhaps the most clinical finisher in the Premier League and his instincts in the box made him a difference-maker, this time giving Villa a lead they ultimately relinquished.
Chris Wood thought he had equalized but after a lengthy VAR review it was concluded that Anthony Elanga was offside due to a hairy ball. Thankfully, the home side equalized for the second time.
Of course, like clockwork, Martinez made a small error in Nikola Milenkovic’s equalizer. It was a powerful header, very close, but the Argentinian looked like he was trying to collect the ball rather than deflect it to safety. He did throw it a little bit, which is very typical. At least the most important point remains: that save was the shot in the arm we craved.
Martinez’s world-class save was for nothing and Elanga scored his first goal since February to give Forest an injury-time lead and beat Unai E Meri’s Aston Villa, sparking some very interesting discussions about how far Nuno Espirito Santo’s Nottingham Forest can go.
They’ve had a surprising and brilliant start to the season, with this being Liverpool’s only defeat, but one that’s looking less and less strange as time goes on. Many are unhappy with Nuno as their first manager is set to be sacked in the 2024/25 season and Forest are expected to find themselves in another relegation battle, but they will have enough points before Christmas to stay. in the partition.
It was remarkable and defeating another Champions League team begs the question: will Forest hit the beach as early as February, or will they continue to fight for Europe? The way they’re going, with Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United hovering in the bottom half, they should be targeting Champions League places, with the Premier League likely to end up with five places.
They are now ahead of Manchester City, three points ahead of Villa and more impressive than other giants such as Brighton, Bournemouth, Fulham and Brentford. As evidenced by their league status.
Nuno’s substitutions have helped, especially the introduction of Anthony Elanga, but Martinez’s shocking goalkeeping is definitely the story we’re talking about. The game was performing really poorly before this, and that’s no coincidence!
Unfortunately, the eventual goal made that save feel like a distant memory, but it happened nonetheless and served as the catalyst for one of the best finishes to the Premier League season.
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