A blank Hull City weekend against Aston Villa cannot stop supporters feeling good

If that sounds a pretty modest "achievement", it is not. This is a competition they supposedly did not have a snowflake's chance in hell of surviving, yet only three teams in Premier League history have been relegated with seven points after their first three matches, as they do.

No one is bored.

"Something tells me I'm into something good" rang around the MKM Stadium during Saturday's 0-0 draw with Aston Villa.

They might not all have woken up on Sunday morning feeling fine but for those who did not, it would have been hangovers, not football, to blame.

Nil-nils are supposed to be anathema to chairman Acun Ilicali, who famously said more than once he would rather lose 4-3 than see his team play out a stalemate.

But a man with so many places to be cannot stay away from Hull's games, the passion he has always shown as owner undimmed by Hull's games featuring fewer goals – three in three – than any other Premier League team's. No side has seen less of the ball.

And yet, the chairman is there, grinning away every game, granting the fans' requests for a wave.

The £150m spent on 18 players this summer is a lot about more exciting football in the long term.

But he is very happy with the present too. Otherwise he would not have handed new contracts to six of the players who won May's Championship play-off final, four of whom have started all three games – two won, one drawn.

He would not have extended the contract of the architect of all this pragmatism, coach Sergej Jakirovic.

To quote another terrace anthem, everyone is lapping up Hull's "only fools rush in" football.

Football, Ilicali, will tell you, is about enjoyment. And sometimes – often – fans get their dopamine from something other than goalfests.

"In my opinion defence is (the most important part of) winning titles and for us a title is staying in the league," argued Jakirovic.

"I'm aware of what we can do and how we can play, what profile we have this is, I think, a great recipe for us. But also, we will try to improve and we have a plan B, always."

And there ought to have been goals on Saturday.

John McGinn and Emi Buendia made spectacularly bad misses when Villa played them into excellent goalscoring positions in a strong start to the second half.

But then Oli McBurnie missed a wonderful opportunity to win it in the 90th minute, and before that Mohamed Belloumi sailed a shot over the head of Zion Suzuki and onto Villa's crossbar, and Mohamed-Ali Cho hit a shot straight at the goalkeeper, who almost spilt it to McBurnie.

Villa's first shot on target this season – by George Hemmings, but straight at Konstantinos Tzolakis – in the 13th minute was their last.

Clearly McGinn and Buendia's clumsiness was a big part of that, but so was John Egan throwing himself in the line of a Ross Barkley shot.

"The three lads at the back (Egan, Nobel Mendy and Semi Ajayi) are playing unbelievable stuff and dealing with everything that gets chucked to them, but right through the XI everyone's putting a shift in and we're tough to beat at the minute,” said Regan Slater.

But they are more than just that.

Slowly, slowly, catchy monkey is working.

Villa had 67 per cent of the ball, but had Belloumi's shot dipped an inch when a corner was returned to him, or had McBurnie not swiped at Ryan Giles' cross, Hull's 100 per cent start to the Premier League season would have continued.

"We will always create some chances," argued Jakirovic. "From the 70th minute to 85th minute we sat back and waited for opportunities and then at the end we had two excellent opportunities."

This is not Hull's luck coming in all at once, either.

Matty Crooks, Joe Gelhardt, Charlie Hughes, Hidemasa Morita, Paddy McNair and Jack Butland are injured, Mendy is suffering a lack of pre-season. The medical for Ilyas Ansah's deadline signing showed up a spinal injury and Tim Iroegbunam signed injured too. Good job they signed so many players.

But every win, every point, every clean sheet adds to a belief that makes Hull more resilient – to injuries, to setbacks, to defeats.

They know their 5-4-1 formation can keep outstanding forwards at bay. That most of the players in it thus far are last season’s play-off winners means new signings can take their time learning the club, the city, the league, the language.

"It's important that you get off to a good start,” said Slater. “I've watched enough Premier League football to see that if you don't do that, you can end up struggling.

"We've shown the standards that we've set for ourselves, so we need to make sure that we stick to that."

Hull City: Tzolakis; Ajayi, Egan, Mendy (Herrington 71); Coyle (Norton-Cuffy 64), Gourna (Hjerto-Dahl 81), Slater, Giles; Belloumi (Cho 81), Stroud (Thomas 64); McBurnie. Unused substitutes: Phillips, Targett, Mouzakitis, Vaz.

Aston Villa: Suzuki; Cash (Wan-Bissaka 85), Lindelof, Mings, Maatsen (Ruggeri 75); Kamara, Barkley; McGinn, Buendía (Garnacho 75), Hemmings (Alysson 75); Jackson (Abraham 85). Unused substitutes: Torres, Mbaye, Bogarde, Bizot. Referee: M Oliver (Ashington).