For an hour Villa were doing so much right and yet the most important thing wrong.
Time and time again they seemed to get cold feet in the final third, suffer a brain freeze, whichever you prefer. They had all the movement, the energy, the verve, the ideas and yet their decision-making continued to give this patched up Everton side belief that there unbeaten start would roll on for another week.
And yet in the space of two minutes Everton’s hope was extinguished, Villa were 2-0 up, out of sight and fingers were being pointed at Lucas Digne.
Leon Bailey's sensational 19 minute performance for Aston Villa on Saturday crushed Everton
The first saw the full-back caught too high and in raced Matty Cash to rifle in for 1-0.
Less than two minutes later the France international was looking to the heavens having headed into his own net from Leon Bailey’s corner. He looked like he wanted Villa Park to swallow him up.
Bailey would add a third, his first in a Villa shirt since joining from Bayer Leverkusen for £25m in the summer, before dedicating it to Steffi Gregg, a Jamaican influencer who was the daughter of former race car driver Gary Gregg.
He lasted just 20 minutes, injury striking him down, but his presence dramatically changed this game.
From an Everton perspective this was all about Digne and the uncharacteristic defensive collapse that is so rare to find in a Benitez-led side.
Digne has Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain on his CV but this was two costly mistakes, the first one to let Cash through in particular.
Before a ball was kicked Rafa Benitez was scribbling away in his trusted notebook.
