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Arsenal: It’s Safe To Be Pumped About Emi Martinez
By Josh Sippie
Arsenal had to toss Emi Martinez into goal in an emergency situation against West Ham and the results are exciting. Go ahead and be pumped, it’s okay.
Arsenal’s situation as keeper hasn’t been as sturdy as we might have liked. Petr Cech is clearly on a downward path and David Ospina remains an enigma. Wojciech Szczesny’s future is in doubt as well and as such, the importance of identifying a long term solution was growing by the day.
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Emi Martinez has always been there, we just never got to see him. He played in Cup matches against lesser opposition, but there is a gulf in class between that and being an effective Premier League keeper.
Against West Ham, we saw an effective Premier League keeper. He had all of zero mistakes. If there were any nerves, he covered them. There was not any hint of misgivings or hesitancy. He used his size and decision making to control his goal box and his shot stopping was on point.
He absorbed shots like a magnet.
It’s only one performance and it’s always dicey to get too jazzed up over one performance, but I think in this case, it is safe. I could tell you why, but I’ll let Martinez speak for himself.
"I have had many options to leave Arsenal. The manager said no because he wants me here and handed me a new deal (in November). He told us that he has three incredible goalkeepers and that anyone can start. In January, I had more offers but he didn’t let me go because he told me that the opportunity would arrive."
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Martinez went on to say that Wenger had raised him since he was 16 and he trusted him.
We give Wenger a lot of flack for any number of things, but you have to see Martinez as a special situation. He has been with the club for eight years and has never had that shot at first team football. All moves away from the club were blocked because Wenger believed in him and now that he has had that chance, it’s easy to see why.
That was a long time to wait. A long time to have faith. But it was also a long time to hold him against all offers. We have seen youngsters depart every summer, deemed not good enough, but Wenger has held Martinez for this long without an ounce of hesitancy.
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That says a lot. And it says that we are perfectly safe to get excited about this young man.