So that’s phase one of Wembley week safely navigated.

Although this hugely impressive scoreline failed to tell the whole story a win, by hook or by crook, was really all that mattered at Villa Park yesterday.

Villa might have been verging on dreadful in what was an abject first-half display, but tight now it’s about points not performances and four goals in 12 second-half minutes saw Martin O’Neill’s men transform this contest.

It was the ideal start to a week which sees them host Crystal Palace in their FA Cup fifth-round replay on Wednesday before Sunday’s Carling Cup final against Manchester United. To say it is the biggest week of the season would be an understatement.

So to have emerged from this potential banana-skin game unscathed will have come as a huge relief to O’Neill. Let’s not forget this was Burnley though. A side who had claimed just one point from 39 away from Turf Moor all season. If Villa hadn’t put these to the sword then you really would have to started to worry.

While O’Neill’s remain unbeaten in 2010, wins have been few and far between for the claret and blues – they kicked off with just one from their last seven in the Premier League.

Ultimately, draws won’t be enough if their Champions League dream is to become a reality, and nothing but three points against the country’s worst away team would have been acceptable. So it was a good day for Villa.

For about an hour it was enough to claim fourth, but by the time yesterday’s games had finished it was Tottenham who were to end the weekend in the coveted spot following their 3-0 win at Wigan – while Villa had slipped back down to seventh. The table might show they failed to climb the league ladder any further in this increasingly fascinating and furiously-fought fight for fourth.

But that does not tell the whole story. If Martin O’Neill could have chosen any outcome from yesterday’s clash between fellow Champions League hopefuls Liverpool and Manchester City it would have been a goalless draw – and that’s exactly what he got.

If, and this is a big if, Villa can win their game in hand against the Latics, they will go above Spurs and Liverpool. City, who are a point better off, have a game in hand of their own but their trip to Chelsea will more than likely see that advantage evaporate.

Slowly, the top-four pendulum appears to be swinging back in Villa’s favour. The biggest danger to their Champions League dreams unravelling like last season remains their Cup commitments and next weekend’s Carling Cup final has caused the postponement of another very winnable game away at Hull.

O’Neill is continuing to stick with the same nucleus of 12 or 13 players for games – yesterday there were just two changes, a recall for the fit-again Gabby Agbonlahor and the return of Carlos Cuellar for Luke Young at right-back.

Whether they can cope with what is becoming an increasingly hectic end to the campaign will go a long way to deciding whether it is boom or bust. The Villa boss now faces a difficult decision over whether to continue that stance on Wednesday for what is sure to be a bruising battle against Palace. It brings with it the risk of injury just days before Sunday’s crunch clash at Wembley.

But, on the flipside, O’Neill will know his strongest side only just managed to force a replay at Selhurst Park last week and that making too many changes brings with it the risk of jeopardising a second Wembley trip this term.

The national stadium certainly seemed to be on the minds of players and fans alike in what was a strangely sterile opening to proceedings at Villa Park.

The unusually quiet crowd did little to stoke up the players, while the players gave them little to cheer about in an error-strewn start which culminated in the Clarets taking a 10th-minute lead.

Jack Cork played in David Nugent down the right channel and the striker took advantage of some slack defending with a precise pass to the back post beyond the reach of goalkeeper Brad Friedel, leaving Fletcher with the simplest of finishes.

There was a further scare soon afterwards when Nugent’s shot took a wicked deflection off James Collins and looped agonisingly over Friedel’s bar, with the big American furiously back-pedalling.

Slowly but surely they began to put the visitors under pressure and the equaliser arrived on 31 minutes from Ashley Young’s seventh goal of the campaign.

It was another set-piece strike to add to last weekend’s double as Young cut inside following a quickly-taken short corner before firing him with the aid of a deflection off ex-Walsall defender Danny Fox.

We now know a half-time tongue-lashing from O’Neill followed and it certainly had the desired impact, as a four-goal second-half blitz transformed the contest.

It began 11 minutes after the break when Ashley Young charged down the left and squared to the unmarked Stewart Downing, who did superbly to squeeze a shot inside the far post with his weaker right foot despite a Burnley player guarding the line.

Downing’s first league goal was followed by his second within two minutes as the wide man found the very same spot – with the aid of another deflection off the unfortunate Fox – after Agbonlahor had seen his shot well saved by Clarets goalkeeper Brian Jensen.

Villa, so ineffective in the first half, looked a different side now and it took just another three minutes for them to bag number four – Agbonlahor’s pace too hot for Clark Carlisle and the England man crossing to leave strike-partner Emile Heskey with the simplest of finishes.

The rout was complete on 68 minutes, when Agbonlahor got in on the act to bundle home James Milner’s cross, after the midfielder had been cleverly played in by Heskey. Job done.

There was a late consolation for the Clarets when substitute Martin Paterson was left unmarked to meet Cork’s cross two minutes into added time.

But it did little to take the polish off a near-perfect start to Villa’s big week.

By Brendan McLoughlin