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Jake Stokes

Unai Emery fumes at 'embarrassing' Emi Martinez decision that hands Arsenal huge title boost

Unai Emery has been left furious with Emi Martinez following Arsenal's dramatic win over Aston Villa. The 30-year-old shot-stopper was centre of attention at Villa Park for all the wrong reasons as his former side waltzed away 4-2 victors after netting twice late into injury time.

Jorginho struck the underside of the crossbar from range and, as his effort rebounded, Martinez provided the finishing touch by unintentionally heading the ball into his own net. But, that's not what angered Emery.

It was moments later when the Argentina international joined his teammates in Arsenal box for a corner, desperate to secure Villa an equaliser. But, Martinez quickly regretted venturing out of his 18-yard box when William Saliba nodded the cross clear.

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Fabio Vieira picked up the Frenchman's clearance and, unselfishly, slotted Gabriel Martinelli in-behind before passing the ball into an empty net. Speaking to BT Sport after the game, Emery absolved himself of any blame, insisting that he's never instructed his goalkeeper to try and score.

"I have never told my goalkeeper to go and score one goal in the 90th minute, because maybe – and I don’t know the data – maybe one goal in 100, maybe 20 times they [the opponents] are doing a counter transition and they are scoring 10 goals," he told BT Sport.

"Today, it happened. And for me it’s not being very smart, not being very consistent in how we want to play, how we want to compete. We can play, we can lose 2-3, but 2-4? It’s not a good result."

Then, speaking to BBC Sport, Emery added: "Today I am very disappointed and it is embarrassing for me, the last goal. Because I never told my goalkeeper to go to a corner to score a goal. It is not the spirit, we have to keep our mind clear and smart.

"We have to progress in the way that we are working. We have to take confidence of course, but sometimes making mistakes you have to improve. We were very happy with how the team worked and prepared for the match.

"But then on the pitch after scoring first we were thinking when will the match finish. You have to play 90 minutes. I never told my goalkeeper to do it. But today he decided it was his decision.

"He was not doing something about my decision because I didn't tell him, but now he knows. He knows now."

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