Obita is at pains to stress that next Wednesday’s Easter Road first leg won’t leave the Leith club in danger of taking “lightly” their immediate priority of Sunday’s League Cup encounter away to Raith Rovers. However, it is only human nature for the 29-year-old to chew over the club’s prospects against the English Premier League middleweights – and remembering when he was part of a team that delivered a knock-out to the Midlands club when they were not so exalted.

That success came back in April 2017 when he was operating for the left wing for Reading in the Championship, then chasing a place in the play-offs as Villa scrabbled around in mid-table of the English second tier having been relegated the previous season. This backdrop precisely why Reading’s 3-1 then at Villa Park has no relevance to what will unfold for Hibs against them beyond stirring a satisfying recollection for him.

“I do remember it well … we let them have the ball and then countered three times,” said Obita. “I hope we can do the same again, but it will be tough. They have improved massively since then. They have incredible players like [Moussa] Diaby and Ollie Watkins, quick technical players who are also powerful. We need to be aware of their strengths but hope we can exploit their weaknesses too.”

Contrasting competitive game-time between the two teams will not figure in the latter for Obita. Hibs will have played five games by the time their encounter with Unai Emery’s men rolls around – thanks to their superb 2-2 draw away to Luzern on Thursday night that took them through 5-3 on aggregate to within one, ginormous hurdle of European group stage football. Villa will only be two games into their season, having started their league campaign with a painful 5-1 loss away to Newcastle United last week. Obita does not believe, though, that Hibs can have any thoughts over Villa possibly being slightly undercooked.

"Villa are Premier League standard and their fitness will be top notch,” he said. “They are quality and we just have to try to match it. As you saw against Luzern, we can dig deep and defend, so we just need to make sure we do that. We need to treat this game like any other. It's football and obviously the opposition is a lot better than what we are used to, but we need to view it the same.”

Obita does consider there is one plus for Hibs, who will be reunited with former favourite John McGinn, a player the attacker is sure will receive “applause” from his old supporters and “deserves” everything he has derived from his career. "I wanted to be home first and get the fans behind us,” Obita said. “You want to back yourself against the majority of the teams you play against at Easter Road. It would be tough away first. Villa Park has a great atmosphere and they have incredible players. They are signing guys for £20million and £30million so it's always going to be a tough game home or away, but it's nice to be home first.”

The Hibs player who has beaten Aston Villa before - and why being at home first is so important