For all Villa’s summer activity Amadu Onana was the only new arrival in the starting line-up, with four more on the strongest bench I can remember for a long while. Despite pre-match concerns Ollie Watkins also started and there was the welcome return of Emiliano Buendia, the first of the long-term casualties back in the matchday squad.

Onana made the perfect start to his career in claret and blue with Villa’s opener. He might have seemed the replacement for Douglas Luiz when he was signed, but it was Youri Tielemans who took the Brazilian’s place as the team’s corner-kick goal provider after four minutes with his perfectly-placed ball finding the head of the new man.

You couldn’t have asked for more than that, and for most of the first half another Villa goaj seemed inevitable. Morgan Rogers tore the West Ham defence apart before a good save and Leon Bailey took the ball round the keeper only to hit the post. Bailey then laid on a chance for John McGinn to shoot just wide before Matty Cash made a good tackle to keep out a dangerous attack from the home side.

Not so, according to the ref, so a combination of his incompetence and the latest bewildering interpretation of the VAR rules meant a penalty and an equaliser. It was the first blatant injustice of the season. It won’t be the last.

In the second half Rogers missed a decent chance and a Unai Emery masterclass in bringing on substitutes gave the initiative back to Villa when the team began to stumble. Jacob Ramsey and Jhon ‘Mr Controversy’ Duran came on for McGinn and Watkins, then were followed by new signing Ian Maatsen and the return of Jaden Philogene,

Villa were re-energised by the new arrivals and a sweeping end to end move resulted in Duran getting what proved to be the winner with eleven minutes remaining. After the dramas of the past few weeks it couldn’t have been anyone else

Ezri Konsa and Emiliano Martinez did their utmost to keep Villa in front and the final whistle saw three deserved points at a ground where we rarely do well, at a time of the year when Villa often seem unprepared.

It’s too early to judge how the season will pan out but Villa are looking good. Maatsen was confident, as was Kosta Nedeljković on the other side of the back four during his brief appearance. Duran could be the next Villa Park cult hero if he calms down a bit, although that ‘if’ is asking a lot.

Most of all, Odana looks like he could be a genuine talent. We’ve still got players to return from injury and on this performance none of them will be walking straight back into the team.