Opening-day results can set the tone for a season. Sometimes they don’t, however. Aston Villa’s heaviest defeat at the start of the season in almost four decades may have looked like an anomaly when they were destroyed by Newcastle. It certainly did eight days later. A game later, Villa have wiped out their goal difference. Hammered one week ago, today they inflicted a humiliating defeat on the Toffees. Everton were eviscerated. If there was a deceptive scoreline now, it was because the margin flattered Sean Dyche’s hapless team. They take the place at the bottom of the league that Villa had occupied: unlike them, they could stay there.
Villa were terrific. Play like this and it is tempting to wonder how much higher a team who surged from relegation contention to seventh last season can go. Certainly, the ambition that accompanied Unai Emery’s appointment is reflected on the pitch. There was a speed of foot and thought, a sharpness and a style, an evident enthusiasm to suggest that the Spaniard’s impact will not be confined to his first few months. An eighth straight home win – the sort of statistic Everton can only dream of – came with a sense of normality. Villa Park now expects a side brimming with energy and ideas to secure this kind of result.
