A narrow home win over newly promoted opposition might not sound like a major step forward but the last fixture before the October international break was another big boost.
Aston Villa beat a Burnley team whose own struggling form was masked by the degree of difficulty of their recent Premier League fixtures, making sure to be among the group that was too good for them to beat.
Unai Emery made four changes to his starting line-up in terms of personnel that also necessitated or indeed enabled some other tweaks to his system.
John McGinn moved out of the middle and Lamare Bogarde came in but also helped form Villa’s back three in possession, sending the full-backs up the flanks.
The attacking configuration was changed by the reintroduction of Donyell Malen. The Dutch international scored both of Villa’s goals to cap his game for the club by far.
Here’s your Holy Trinity of match conclusions.