A week is a long time in football. Last Saturday Jimmy Bullard was a picture of fun as he orchestrated a goal celebration that caused amusement among managers, players and supporters up and down the country. What a contrast with this afternoon when, during Aston Villa’s 3-0 victory, the Hull City midfielder looked a broken man as left the pitch in tears and wearing the expression of a player who was wondering whether he would make it back on to a football pitch again.

How serious Bullard’s injury is remains unclear at the moment but the pain etched on his face as he beat the ground in frustration following an aborted attempt to continue told its own story. The 31-year-old was clutching his knee. Bullard has been operated on twice after sustaining cruciate ligament damage while at Fulham in 2006 and again at Hull at the start of this year, when he broke down on his debut.

Indeed this was only his sixth appearance since moving to the KC Stadium in a £5m move in January. The injury, which occurred after Bullard fell awkwardly, cast a shadow over a match that Aston Villa comfortably won to complete a productive week after securing a place in the Carling Cup semi-final. Two goals to the good at the break, it was left to the substitute John Carew to applying the finishing touch with a penalty-kick two minutes from time after the hapless Matt Duke brought down Ashley Young in full flight.

Villa had taken the lead in the 14th minute and the only surprise was that it had taken that long for the breakthrough to arrive. Luke Young squandered an excellent chance inside 22 seconds, when he adroitly nicked the ball past Kami Zayatte but dragged his shot wide with only Duke to beat, and Emile Heskey was guilty of wasting another glorious opportunity in the seventh minute when he bore down on the Hull goal only to take a wayward first-touch before horribly scuffing his effort beyond the far post.

Villa’s dominance was bound to yield a goal sooner or later, however, and it was left to a central defender to get them on their way. The ubiquitous James Milner was the architect, sliding a measured pass into the path of Richard Dunne who surely could not have believed the space that the Hull defence granted him. With no one within 10 yards, Dunne took one touch before hammering the ball with such power that Duke was well advised to keep out the way as it thundered in off the crossbar. Heskey should have taken note.

Shortly before the half-hour mark Villa had doubled their advantage and once again Hull contributed to their own downfall. With Duke having raced out of his penalty area to head the ball out of play, Agbonlahor took a quick throw-in to release Milner as the Hull goalkeeper desperately tried to recover. There was still much to do but Milner, showing wonderful technique and composure, lifted the ball over the back-pedalling Hull defenders and into the unguarded net from just outside the area.

Downing, with a vicious 25-yard shot that flicked the top of the net, came close to adding a third before the interval and Duke also produced a smart save to tip Zayatte’s deflection over the bar in first-half injury time. Hull improved for a period after the restart and Craig Fagan, who replaced Bullard, threatened to punish the complacency that had seeped into Villa’s performance when he struck a left-footed shot against the angle of crossbar and post in the 61st minute. The result, however, was never in doubt and Carew made the scoreline emphatic.

Premier LeagueAston VillaHull CityStuart Jamesguardian.co.uk