It’s not all down to Unai Emery; the players and owners have to, of course, take some of the credit but the finest testament to the transformation brought about by El Maestro is to look at the squad that he picked for this season’s trip down by the riverside. By my reckoning, out of twenty players named, eleven had been available to Gerrard and they were in a relegation battle. Look at them now.

The team that started the game was as close to full strength as we’ve had for a long time. Only Tyrone Mings and Boubacar Kamara of those missing would have had a strong claim to be a first choice, and Kamara was on a bench that was similar strength to those you used to look at and wonder how we could possibly compete with that sort of depth.

John McGinn, Ezri Konsa and Kamara were there, in addition to the World’s Greatest Substitute, while Mings didn’t get a look-in. These are exciting times to be a Villa supporter.

Of course, the one thing that never changes is our inherent belief that the more promising the outlook, the quicker we’re brought back to earth. Five minutes in this case, when a long punt from the Fulham keeper left Pao Torres outmuscled and Villa a goal down

If that prospect never changes the thing we’re having to get used to is that conceding is just giving the opposition a sporting chance. For the next 85 minutes Villa were well on top. It didn’t take long for an equaliser, with a shot from Morgan Rogers getting the sort of lucky deflection that the big clubs invariably get.

There was another scare when a ludicrously soft penalty was given against the returning Matty Cash but another growing inevitability was confirmed when Emiliano Martinez didn’t so much save the resulting penalty as hypnotise the taker.

Villa continued to control the game and a ten minute period midway though the second half proved crucial. A corner from Youri Tielemans was met perfectly by Ollie Watkins, who put away a header any great Villa centre-forward of the past would have been proud of. Then a Fulham defender was sent off for bringing down Watkins before a cross from Lucas Digne was turned in for an own goal.

Substitutions were made more to give a bit of a run-out than to do anything drastic and one of them, Jadene Philogene, was sent off for a daft foul in stoppage time. 3-1 was the final score and although a hat-trick of own goal, sending-off and a missed penalty might have looked as though Fulham were unlucky, this was a comfortable victory against a team who could have gone above us had they won