Villa, for example, got their third win in four games on Saturday. This put them in fourteenth place, which with two games left should ensure safety, but these are not normal times. Two home wins in a row, for example. When did that last happen?

After watching quality for so long, something a bit less flamboyant was due and it came in ninety minutes that showed how Villa have now got the ability to battle as well as play football. Injury-hit and out of form West Ham seemed ideal opposition for a routine three points but Villa were much less effective than of late.

Going into half-time a goal up thanks to a combination of Jack Grealish and the Platt-like Tom Cleverley, they should have been able to kill the game off without any problem. But Sam Allardyce was able to change his team around successfully, perhaps a timely reminder that for all his motivation and enthusiasm, Tim Sherwood is still a novice at this management game and in the end Villa were hanging on, grateful that the ‘Ammers didn’t possess anyone with Christian Benteke’s finishing ability.

Not that Benteke showed much of it, as he had his quietest game for months. He’s allowed one, though, and the rest of the side made up for the Belgian’s off-day. Is there such a thing as the Curse of the Player of the Month?

And so Villa edged three points closer to safety, the jubilation from a crowd of almost forty thousand at the final whistle tempered only by news that once again results elsewhere hadn’t been favourable. Not that they should matter any more; for all that the foot of the table looks ludicrously tight the remaining fixtures show that it would take a turnaround of cataclysmic proportions for Villa to get relegated now.