Change the Premier League team of the season, Gary Neville was instructed, as Liverpool benefit from a humiliating error.
Gary Neville heaped praise on Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez, only to witness the goalkeeper make a shocking error moments into their game against Liverpool.
Martinez was caught off guard just 60 seconds into the match at Villa Park. A Harvey Elliott cross deflected awkwardly off Pau Torres, causing the goalkeeper to inadvertently drop the ball into his own net at the near post.
This early blunder gave Liverpool a dream start to Jürgen Klopp’s penultimate game in charge and left Neville with some reconsideration to do after his previous comments. Neville had teased Martinez as his selection in his Premier League Team of the Season, which he named on Monday Night Football after the game, and he was quickly reminded that he might need to reassess his choices.
“Gary Neville may want to rethink his Premier League Team of the Season now,” joked Rob Hawthorne on commentary duty. Despite Martinez’s error, Villa managed to equalize through Youri Tielemans 10 minutes later. However, Liverpool regained the lead as Cody Gakpo capitalized on a Joe Gomez cross that evaded Martinez, tapping in at the back post.
While Martinez’s mistake was one to forget, Neville’s earlier comments about the World Cup-winning goalkeeper still hold merit in the broader context of the season. Villa entered the game needing a win to secure fourth place and Champions League football.
Before the game, Neville had praised Martinez, saying, “I love a goalkeeper that’s got a presence. Not just a physical presence, but just generally on the pitch. He’s a little bit mad, confidence, massive character. I played with Peter Schmeichel, who was a similar type of character. Amazing goalkeeper. I spent most of my train journey down this morning thinking about my Team of the Season, and he’s teased before that Villa fans are going to have good news at half 10 and they’ve going to have good news from. I love Alisson as well, I think Alisson’s been the best in the world in the last few years, but I just think what Martinez has done this season, Villa and where they are, he’s a massive part of that.”