Arsenal: Emiliano Martinez has a golden chance to prove his worth

With the injury to Petr Cech and Bernd Leno’s adoption of the Premier League starting spot, Emiliano Martinez will finally have a chance for Arsenal.

Emiliano Martinez is a man who has been within the Arsenal infrastructure since 2010 and has been a senior player since 2012. In those eight years, the Argentinian goalkeeper has hardly had a sniff of first team action.

He has been loaned out to four teams in total, with his most recent being Spain’s La Liga side, Getafe. Chances at the starting spot have been hard to come by for Martinez but now that a Europa League game against Sporting and a Carabao Cup match against Blackpool are just around the corner, it appears as if Martinez may finally get his chance.

Emiliano Martinez benefitting from Petr Cech’s injury

Petr Cech seemed as though he had established his name as the first one to come to Unai Emery’s mind when deciding on which shot stopper he would play in premier League matches. However, as most Arsenal fans are well aware of, things change in football and injuries occur on a relatively frequent basis, especially on the red side of London.

Cech picked up a hamstring injury that sees one of the Gunner’s newest signing, Bernd Leno, taking over the Premier League No. 1 spot. Moreover, now that the schedule is becoming more and more congested, Leno cannot be expected to play every single match and it seems virtually inevitable that Martinez will get at least one chance in the  coming weeks.

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Can Martinez be Cech’s replacement?

Now that Martinez will finally be getting his chance, one thing that will be on the back of every Arsenal supporter’s mind will be, “Can he replace Cech?” With the £25 million signing of Leno, one would assume that the German international is set to be the Gunner’s main shot stopper moving into the future. Can Martinez show that he is a worthy No. 2 and that he can fill the boots of his Czech international teammate? The coming games will certainly help fans and more importantly Emery to see if he is capable of doing so.

Martinez is clearly a player that Arsene Wenger valued highly enough to ensure that he wasn’t off of the club’s books anytime during his tenure. He clearly has an abundance of talent, but displaying brilliance on a huge stage is a significantly different and a far more arduous proposition than stopping shots well in training.

The pressure will be mounted heavily upon the young goalkeeper and fans will certainly hope that the long-serving South American, can be in the clubs plans going forward.

Emery will be keeping a watchful eye out for any strengths as well as weaknesses in Martinez’s game in order to find out whether he already has a replacement for an aging Cech or if he will have to reach in to Stan Kroenke’s tight checkbook.