The Villa prowler became the first starting midfielder in the Premier League this season to play at least 60 minutes without recording a tackle, an interception, a blocked shot, a clearance, a shot attempt or a shot assist. Four others (Moussa Dembele, Vurnon Anita, Scott Sinclair and Adel Taarabt) had come close with just a single contribution from all six of those categories before El Ahmadi actually completed the naked half-dozen at the loss to Newcastle.

Indeed the pace of the PL still seems beyond El Ahmadi at times, a notion that came more into focus when like-minded Yacouba Sylla entered the AV fray last January and consistently influenced the cause.

Perhaps his return is imminent if Lambert wants to keep the current mold of midfield in effect with better bite. Below is a look — the graphic shows how much, on average, the before-mentioned six vitals above have been contributed by Villa’s four regular rear midfielders (Delph, El Ahmadi, Sylla, Westwood) since Sylla jumped into the shuffle.