Aston Villa maintained their impressive form to consign Portsmouth to a sixth successive Premier League defeat.
James Milner opened the scoring from the penalty spot after Nadir Belhadj upended Villa skipper Stilian Petrov.
Gabriel Agbonlahor then underlined Villa's superiority, converting a Milner flick-on with aplomb after a lapse of concentration by Tal Ben Haim.
The defeat makes Pompey the first top-flight side to lose their opening six games in over a quarter of a century.
Leicester City were the last team to start a top-flight campaign in similarly desultory fashion.
And while Portsmouth can perhaps take heart from the fact that the Foxes eventually recovered to finish the 1983/84 season in 15th place, they will need to tighten up significantly at the back if history is to repeat itself.
After a fifth successive win in all competitions, Villa have no such problems.
Nigel Reo-Coker's training-ground contretemps with manager Martin O'Neill overshadowed the prelude to the game, but a vibrant performance will have done much to lighten the mood in the claret-and-sky-blue camp.
O'Neill dealt with the absence of Reo-Coker, who was sent home from training on Thursday but will be considered for return to first-team contention next week, by restoring John Carew alongside Agbonlahor in attack.
The result was an infusion of attacking impetus that was evident from the opening seconds, when Agbonlahor's purposeful run towards the Pompey goal required a lunging intervention from Belhadj.
Villa's enterprise almost reaped an early reward when a left-wing cross from Ashley Young took a deflection off the forehead of Pompey midfielder Aaron Mokoena, forcing a sprightly save from England veteran David James.
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