So it wasn't the games they lost which best underlined the point Roberto De Zerbi has been making about this challenging season.

It was one they won – after too long a wait and with hopes of a return to Europe having faded away.

Albion have been missing players to injury for months now.

Others have been around but not able to be at their best.

Matches have been prepared for in one or two sessions, or meetings, rather than with the time De Zerbi would like.

I am not for one moment suggesting the team and coaches do this but media, and fans I would imagine, have been turning up on Sunday with minds still on Thursday.

Say it when you have lost and it can sound like an excuse.

Even though De Zerbi said himself after the 3-0 defeat at Bournemouth: “No excuses.”

Say it after a win and it is perceived as having more weight, even though the point you are making is the same.

So, when the head coach spoke about earning three points against a tired Villa, he was taking a little credit away from his team’s efforts on the day.

But, more importantly, he was backing them up over the ups and downs of this unprecedented campaign.

Villa came to the Amex three days after being given a harder time than expected at home to Olympiacos.

As you might have seen on Sky Sports the following morning, they were missing players due to injury.

So, after praising his team, De Zerbi told his post-match press conference: “To be honest, Villa were not the true Villa today. Maybe they were tired.

“I can understand better than a lot of other people because they played on Thursday evening.

“They are playing in the Premier League and the Conference League and they have a lot of injuries.

“For that, I think they could not be the true Aston Villa.

“We are suffering in the last two months because we wanted to have different results from Rome until now.

“We are not winning so many games.

“We are losing too many games.

“We can see Aston Villa paid what we are paying from Rome - and before Rome.

“From October, November, we are playing without seven, eight, sometimes ten, like today, injured players.

“For Brighton it is so tough to compete without this number of injured players.”

An Aston Villa reporter waiting for a player interview at the Amex felt it was the first time he had seen the team looking jaded this season.

It was the first time he could remember the effects of a Thursday night being seen the following Sunday afternoon.

Which perhaps, in turn, throws some credit back on Albion and De Zerbi.

They made a team who never look tired look tired Villa did not lose only because they had played on Thursday. There was more to it than that.

It was, in fact only their second defeat in 13 games which have quickly followed a European commitment on the Thursday.

The previous was way back in early season, when they went down 3-0 at Anfield after the formality of the second leg of their qualifying round at home to Hibs.

It is a record made even better by the fact most of those Prem games in question have been away from home.

They won 2-0 at Arsenal three days after the first leg of their quarter-final with Lille.

The 1-0 success at Chelsea was on a post-Euro Sunday.

At home, they have won three out of four such fixtures. The exception was a 4-0 defeat by Tottenham just after they had drawn 0-0 at Ajax.

Villa’s post-Europe record is seven wins, four draws and two defeats from 13 games, so a shade under two points per game.

Albion took nine points from seven such fixtures, of which five were at home.

Villa have greater resources than the Seagulls.

It is probably fair to suggest they have had less demanding European opposition.

And they have the greater experience in the technical area of guiding a club through those challenges in Unai Emery.

De Zerbi has made it clear he needs to learn as well.

He has not only put the onus on his chairman, although that was the headline-grabbing bit.

Speaking last Friday, he said: “I have learned a lot of things. You can learn in every day and every situation, when you win or when you lose. But I think when you lose the improving you make is more important, it’s stronger.”

He made the point a few weeks ago that Premier League clubs under-perform in Europe because of the intensity of domestic competition.

It was an argument spelt out by Jurgen Klopp last week.

So, when he made his point against Villa early in his press conference, it was to underline, not undermine. The plan now must be to reap rewards of that hard-gained experience next season.