goalkeeper has no doubt that his team are in the race for the title after back-to-back wins over and Arsenal.
The Villains downed the champions 1-0 on Wednesday and then beat the Gunners by the same scoreline on Saturday night thanks to an early John McGinn goal.
The victories have left Unai Emery’s side third in the table, just two points of league leaders Liverpool, with the title race seemingly as open as it has been for a while.
Manchester City are not anywhere near their brilliant best, behind Villa in fourth, and Martinez is in no doubt that the Villains are in contention to get their hands on the Premier League trophy.
‘Yeah, yeah, of course [we’re in the title race],’ he said.
‘When you beat City and in a week, one game controlling them like I’ve never seen Man City being controlled, then suffering against Arsenal for 85 minutes and managing to win again…. I’m a believer, mate.’
Emery was not quite as keen to rustle up expectation, saying: ‘I will speak again in game 32, at the minute we are not contenders.
‘Of course, we are in [the top four] and we have to try and keep it. We are not being dominated at home. We try to keep our same idea like we do at home.’
He added on the win over Arsenal: ‘Happy. Very happy. [It was a] top match. We started very well with the great atmosphere. We scored the first goal and controlled the game but, progressively, they were imposing.
‘Our goalkeeper was amazing. We tried to defend and keep possession longer than we did. We defended very well and competed. Fantastic three points. Tough week, after these three points we have to be happy but try to keep balanced.
‘The idea was to keep the same idea [as against City]. Maybe it was a bit less than Wednesday but the structure, defensively, was strong. I think we were very clinical with our goal.’
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