ASTON VILLA stumbled out of the blocks with a 5-1 defeat to Newcastle in their first fixture of the new season but they've wasted no time in getting up to speed since.

Unai Emery's side beat Everton 4-0 before thrashing Hibernian 5-0 to all but book their place in the Europa Conference League group stages.

This past weekend, the Villains beat Burnley 3-1 thanks predominantly to their impressive right flank.

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New signing Moussa Diaby (£3.3m) has hit the ground running in the Midlands while reliable performer Matty Cash (£2.5m) is making liberal use of his license to attack.

The Poland international, a right-back on paper, essentially played as an an auxiliary winger for long spells at Turf Moor on Sunday.

Cash scored a brace within 20 minutes as Villa once again exhibited the dynamic nature of their attack.

The 26-year-old's second goal, assisted by Diaby, was a perfect illustration of the effectiveness of Villa's right-hand side.

As if to underline this point, the French winger turned from creator to finisher as he scored a goal of his own to seal his side's victory.

The pair banked 28 points between them at the Clarets' expense in Gameweek 3.

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That combined tally grows to 51 in the context of the overall season so far with Diaby (26 points) fractionally above above his team-mate (25 points) in the rankings.

Needless to say, the pair are Villa's best performers so far and are evidently the assets Dream Team gaffers should back if they believe Emery's men will continue to score plenty of goals.

With an ownership of 11.5%, Diaby is Villa's most-selected player but Ollie Watkins (£4.4m), Emi Martinez (£3.4m) and Pau Torres (£2.9m) are all more popular than Cash (5.6%).

Although the latter will most likely be among the most transferred-in players ahead of Gameweek 4 after his brace at Burnley.

With all due respect to Hibs, the second leg of the Europa Conference League play-off will surely be a formality for Villa.

Gaffers can then start thinking about Thursday night returns from Diaby, Cash and co – West Ham assets made full use of the continental competition last season.

However, Villa's upcoming domestic fixtures appear difficult on paper: Liverpool (a), Crystal Palace (h), Chelsea (a), Brighton (h).

What's undeniable is that Cash and Diaby are both among the best assets in Dream Team and, after three fixtures, only Brighton have scored more league goals than Villa this season.

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