Emi Martinez spoke of his pride at equalling Aston Villa’s Premier League clean sheets record and poured praise on his defenders for their incredible efforts in front of him.
Villa’s goalless draw against Everton on Thursday night moved Dean Smith's side on to 49 points this season – the club's highest tally in the top flight since 2009/10.
In the process, Villa kept their 15th clean sheet this term, which sees Martinez draw level with Brad Friedel's Premier League club record from the same year.
And while the goalkeeper was proud of the milestone, he was also quick to hail his team-mates for their huge role in the achievement.
Speaking to VillaTV post-match, the Argentinian said: “I think we’ve been battling in so many games, away from home especially and here, the last seven or eight games.
“We were a little bit unlucky, giving penalties away, bad decisions from referees at times, it cost us so many clean sheets.
“But Ty and Ezri, they put their bodies on the line here (against Everton).
“You could see Ty in the last kick of the game, I think he injured his ankle, but he made sure that we kept that clean sheet.
“I’m really proud of them.”
Martinez made a key save to keep out Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s header in the 87th minute, preserving the clean sheet and making sure Villa came away with reward from an evenly-balanced encounter against the Toffees which was short of clear-cut openings.
The 28-year-old said: “Calvert-Lewin beat me at my near post away from home and here he had the same header from the same distance and I managed to save it.
“I put my body on the line as well, I’m obsessed with clean sheets and I’m really proud, to be honest.”
Martinez added: “I said to Ty and Ezri, it’s not me, it’s you; because if you have 20 shots per game, I will concede goals.
“Here I think I only had three or four in the second half.
“You can see in training, they obsess for clean sheets as well when we do drills or 1v1s or 2v2s, they want zero goals and that’s all I want from my centre-backs.”
You can watch Emi’s full interview below…
