Indeed Derby, still without a goal away from home in the Premier League, set out bent on ending that record as Steve Howard forced Scott Carson to tip over with a wellstruck drive early on. From then on, Villa assumed control but met with fierce resistance from a Derby defence which had . . . for an hour at least . . . seemed to come a long way from the outfit dismantled by Liverpool earlier in the season. Indeed, for a large portion of the game it seemed they might claim a second successive away point which would have lifted them off the bottom of the table.

Typically though, that was just a mirage as Villa's eventual opener came when their defence went missing. In the 57th minute Ashley Young floated a free-kick in and, with Derby's defence nowhere in sight, Gareth Barry headed the ball back across goal for centre-half Laursen to sweep in.

Four minutes later the game was sealed when Derby gifted the ball to Gabriel Agbonlahor and, although Stephen Bywater saved his shot, Nigel Reo-Coker had the awareness to cut the ball back for Young to slot home.

At Goodison Park, Everton also picked up three points against a newly-promoted side, in this case 3-1 against Birmingham, but in much more difficult circumstances as they were forced to score twice in injury time.

Aiyegbeni Yakubu had given them the lead after just 10 minutes when he finished easily from Steven Pienaar's pass but from then they failed to take any of their numerous chances. David Moyes's side were eventually punished for such profligacy with just 10 minutes to go, the livewire Olivier Kapo powering in a header from Gary McSheffrey's corner.

Moyes immediately sent on James Vaughan and he almost restored the lead when Johan Djourou deflected his shot wide. In stoppage time though, Birmingham's defence failed to clear Phil Neville's long throw and Lee Carsley lashed home from 20 yards. Vaughan then added insult to injury as he showed speed and composure to meet Carsley's header and race clear to seal the win with a tight finish.