Aston Villa have taken another step forward in their season, applying newfound focus into the Carabao Cup and defeating Coventry City 3-1 at Coventry Arena to set up an away tie against Bournemouth in the fourth round.

This has been a tricky start to the season for the Villans, who are 19th in the Premier League after four games. They have claimed only one point, and they are yet to break their divisional duck in front of goal.

However, away wins in tournaments, domestically and abroad, speak toward the Midlands side's potential this season, with so many sweeping summer changes always going to demand a transitional period.

The Sky Blues' lack of resilience and strength in defence allowed the Villa to press forward and secure passage through to the next round. It was a much-changed line-up after the weekend defeatto Nottingham Forest, and there were no shortage of winners on an individual level.

Aston Villa's biggest winners vs Coventry

Emery, for one, has benefited greatly from Aston Villa's assured victory over Coventry in the Carabao Cup. The Spaniard has been under pressure after a tough start to the term, but this felt like not only a good result but a triumph in deepening the connection between the club, his tactical vision and the newbies who are still settling in.

Tammy Abraham, after rejecting a number of loan moves this summer, scored an emphatic brace to remind £65m summer signing Nicolas Jackson that he does not have a free berth at No. 9 following Ollie Watkins' summer sale.

Moreover, new arrivals Taylor Harwood-Bellis and Ibrahim Mbaye both impressed, the former resilient and confident in defence, while Mbaye's fleet-footed dribbling and natural impetus in the final third outline his potential as a Premier League superstar.

George Hemmings claimed an assist as he continued his remarkable start to the season. The 19-year-old has started every game for Aston Villa this season, across league, Champions League and domestic paths.

It's a wonderful show of faith from the manager, with the teenager having joined Villa from Nottingham Forest at the start of his professional career, but it does illustrate the steepness of the road in front of one of the winger's rivals at the Midlands club.

Emery may have repeated Aston Villa's Elliott disaster

Harvey Elliott suffered the most frustrating of seasons at Aston Villa last year, with Emery unwilling to play the Liverpool loanee more than a handful of times so to avoid activating a permanent purchase option he had no interest in pursuing.

Now, it looks like lightning has struck twice with Alejandro Garnacho, who did not earn a minute against Coventry and has now gone three successive games for Aston Villa as an unused substitute.

Garnacho is immensely talented, but he has struggled for form over the past couple of years, falling by the wayside in Ruben Amorim's Manchester United system - such as it was - and then playing only a bit-part role after joining Chelsea for over £40m last summer.

He might only have joined Villa as a loanee, with a £40m option to buy, but the desire is for the 21-year-old to rediscover his Midas touch in attack and develop into the dangerous winger he has long been touted to be.

After the game, Emery spoke of how the Argentina winger is "a bit behind" his teammates in the pecking order following a disrupted pre-season.

Even so, it's somewhat alarming that he didn't get a sniff in the Carabao Cup, with the appearance-based clause mooted to have been placed in his loan deal, then turning it into a permanent deal, certainly evoking the same sad sense that left Elliott drifting on the fringes for the lion's share of last season.

Aston Villa won against Coventry, and it was a night for the new signings. Emery notoriously turns his nose up at the second-rate domestic tournament each year, but this time around, he used the opportunity to blood his new signings and help recreate the coherence that has drifted - understandably - after so many summer changes.

Garnacho has something to offer this club, but clearly, he's got a lot of work to do if he is going to win Emery over and start earning consistent minutes in the Premier League once again.