{"id":16365,"date":"2025-12-05T17:26:23","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T17:26:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/05\/arsenal-likely-to-replace-aston-villa-with-injury-as-star-player-faces-second-half-fitness-test-soccer-sports\/"},"modified":"2025-12-05T17:26:23","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T17:26:23","slug":"arsenal-likely-to-replace-aston-villa-with-injury-as-star-player-faces-second-half-fitness-test-soccer-sports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/05\/arsenal-likely-to-replace-aston-villa-with-injury-as-star-player-faces-second-half-fitness-test-soccer-sports\/","title":{"rendered":"Arsenal likely to replace Aston Villa with injury as star player faces second-half fitness test | Soccer | Sports"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Emi Martinez&#8217;s fitness for Saturday&#8217;s match against Arsenal is at risk, with the goalkeeper set to undergo a fitness test in the second half. Arsenal could receive a boost as they could face Villa without their No. 1 shot-stopper, who came through with the Gunners. Martinez was due to start against Brighton on Wednesday night but was unable to complete the warm-up due to a back injury.<\/p>\n<p>Martinez was left out of the starting XI and was replaced in the 11th hour by Marco Bizzotto. Despite his early blunders, Bizzotto played a key role in Villa&#8217;s victory over Brighton, making a vital late save to deny Danny Welbeck in a 4-3 win on the south coast. Ahead of the game against Arsenal, manager Unai Emery provided an update on Martinez&#8217;s fitness in his pre-match press conference.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>&#8220;He will train this afternoon. He did not train yesterday, but it is very important for him how the elapsed time makes him feel good,&#8221; explained the Villa manager. &#8220;We won&#8217;t know until the last moment whether he will be able to come tomorrow or not.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>If Martinez is ruled out, Emery will name Bizzotto as his fourth start in the league this season. &#8220;We have Marco. Marco is a great guy and a professional,&#8221; Emery said. &#8220;He has accepted his role. He signed here as a sub for Emi Martinez.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He is ready when he is available and is waiting for the moment. He is very mature and responsible.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Villa will face the league leaders on Saturday, aiming for a seventh consecutive win in all competitions. Arsenal have lost just once in their last 21 away matches in the Premier League, losing 1-0 to Liverpool in August.<\/p>\n<p>Arsenal&#8217;s last three away defeats have all come without a goal, with the Gunners remaining unbeaten in 30 away games with at least one goal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.express.co.uk\/sport\/football\/2142843\/arsenal-could-get-aston-villa-injury-boost-star-faces-late-fitness-test\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Emi Martinez&#8217;s fitness for Saturday&#8217;s match against Arsenal is at risk, with the goalkeeper set to undergo a fitness test in the second half. Arsenal could receive a boost as they could face Villa without their No. 1 shot-stopper, who came through with the Gunners. Martinez was due to start against Brighton on Wednesday night<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16366,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-16365","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-matches"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Arsenal likely to replace Aston Villa with injury as star player faces second-half fitness test | Soccer | Sports - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/05\/arsenal-likely-to-replace-aston-villa-with-injury-as-star-player-faces-second-half-fitness-test-soccer-sports\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Arsenal likely to replace Aston Villa with injury as star player faces second-half fitness test | Soccer | Sports - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Emi Martinez&#8217;s fitness for Saturday&#8217;s match against Arsenal is at risk, with the goalkeeper set to undergo a fitness test in the second half. Arsenal could receive a boost as they could face Villa without their No. 1 shot-stopper, who came through with the Gunners. Martinez was due to start against Brighton on Wednesday night\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/05\/arsenal-likely-to-replace-aston-villa-with-injury-as-star-player-faces-second-half-fitness-test-soccer-sports\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-05T17:26:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin_ok9yktt6\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin_ok9yktt6\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/05\/arsenal-likely-to-replace-aston-villa-with-injury-as-star-player-faces-second-half-fitness-test-soccer-sports\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/05\/arsenal-likely-to-replace-aston-villa-with-injury-as-star-player-faces-second-half-fitness-test-soccer-sports\/\",\"name\":\"Arsenal likely to replace Aston Villa with injury as star player faces second-half fitness test | Soccer | Sports - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/05\/arsenal-likely-to-replace-aston-villa-with-injury-as-star-player-faces-second-half-fitness-test-soccer-sports\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/05\/arsenal-likely-to-replace-aston-villa-with-injury-as-star-player-faces-second-half-fitness-test-soccer-sports\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/6596123.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-05T17:26:23+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6b2ade58a96ab056f743f12490573ae9\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/05\/arsenal-likely-to-replace-aston-villa-with-injury-as-star-player-faces-second-half-fitness-test-soccer-sports\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/05\/arsenal-likely-to-replace-aston-villa-with-injury-as-star-player-faces-second-half-fitness-test-soccer-sports\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/05\/arsenal-likely-to-replace-aston-villa-with-injury-as-star-player-faces-second-half-fitness-test-soccer-sports\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/6596123.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/6596123.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/05\/arsenal-likely-to-replace-aston-villa-with-injury-as-star-player-faces-second-half-fitness-test-soccer-sports\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Arsenal likely to replace Aston Villa with injury as star player faces second-half fitness test | Soccer | Sports\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/\",\"name\":\"EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\",\"description\":\"EPL VIP is your ultimate source for all things related to the English Premier League. 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