Arsenal 2-1 Villa: Emi Martinez won foul after putting Gabriel Jesus in headlock

Emi Martinez isn’t exactly the most popular man among Arsenal fans these days.

During the 2019/20 season, the Argentine goalkeeper became something of a cult hero in the eyes of Gooners when he helped the team win the FA Cup.

Martinez stepped in when Bernd Leno picked up a serious injury in a match away at Brighton and performed brilliantly between the sticks.

But ever since he left north London for regular first-team football at Aston Villa, the ‘keeper has called out Arsenal on multiple occasions for not giving him the opportunities he believed were deserved.

So what did Martinez do on his latest return to the Emirates Stadium? He decided to make himself even more unpopular.

In the second half when Arsenal were leading 1-0, the Villa shot-stopper decided to grab the scorer of the opening goal, Gabriel Jesus, in a headlock after collecting the ball inside the penalty area.

And after committing an act that could certainly have seen a penalty awarded to the home side, Martinez decided to throw himself to the ground theatrically to make out that he was the one fouled.

It really was quite pathetic from Argentina’s number one…

pic.twitter.com/dqMaIW24eg

Yeah, we’re almost lost for words there. Amazingly, the foul was given in Martinez’s favour by the referee!

Jesus could have made far more of the contact, but instead he watched on as his opponent made a complete fool of himself.

After the theatrics from Martinez, Arsenal fans inside the Emirates loudly sung: “Aaron Ramsdale, he’s better than you.”

“Aaron Ramsdale, he’s better than you” sing the Arsenal fans after Emi Martinez’s theatrics

Martinez was actually celebrating just a short time after his clash with Jesus when Douglas Luiz grabbed a shock equaliser for Steven