After scoring his first goal since September, Martin Zubimendi heaped praise on Martin Odegaard for his wonderful assist during our 4-1 win against Aston Villa.
The Spaniard swiftly followed up Gabriel giving us the lead by finishing off a fine move, orchestrated by our skipper who won possession, bided his time, spotted the run of Zubimendi before slipping a flawless pass into his path to tuck past Emiliano Martinez.
That goal proved pivotal as it gave us a two-goal cushion and allowed us to play with a little more freedom, leading us to a big win against the Premier League’s most in-form side. Our summer signing was relieved to be back on the scoresheet, especially in such a big game.
On the victory, he said: “It was amazing. I think we needed this win because we wanted to stay at the top of the table, and the environment was incredible. I'm so happy. We have to enjoy it, but then take a rest and think about the next one.
“I scored two in one game and I think I needed to score another one. I hit the post twice \[against Everton\], so I'm very happy to score in this massive game.
“We recovered the ball very high. I started running, and when Martin has the ball, you still have to run because he has the quality to see these passes. It was perfect.”
Since our late defeat at Villa Park 24 days earlier, we have gone on to win all four of our Premier League games since, and while the first three were all nervy endings as we edged it by a single goal, this one was emphatic.
Martin felt that we required a result such as this to give us a lift going into the new year, especially against a team whose incredible form could have seen them move level with us at the top had the result gone the other way.
“I think we needed this game,” he added. “We were playing at home, we wanted to finish the year at the top of the table and against this great team, tactically they are almost perfect, so we're very happy with the performance.
“In the first half we were struggling a little bit with the counter-attacks. At half-time, we adjusted some movements and in the second half, when we scored the first and the second, and then I think the game was so open and we managed to score four.
“I think we noticed the willingness of the crowd, always pushing, always wanting more. They pushed us to score one, two, three and four, so we're very happy for us and for them as well.”
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