Saturday's result felt far more significant for Aston Villa than it did for Manchester City.
Every point can be crucial in a title race, yet Pep Guardiola's defending champions finished the weekend the same distance ahead of Liverpool as they had begun it, and closer in fact to the top of the table at this early stage. It is consecutive away games now where they have failed to win, although it is too early for that to be a pattern - especially in a team that have been so outstanding for so long on the road.
Villa, meanwhile, grabbed a draw that felt like a victory after staring a fifth defeat in six games down and rewriting the script to earn a deserved point in front of their home fans. Steven Gerrard will be under less pressure now and will look to use that point as a key moment in their campaign.
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Naturally, the post-match discussion could not help but go to Erling Haaland - the man who had dominated Premier League talk after consecutive hat-tricks took him to nine goals from his opening five games. Villa had more joy than most in stopping him, so how did they do it?
Despite making sure that City's No.9 didn't grab the headlines for the third time in a week, the Villa dressing room could not ignore the difficulties they had endured up against him. Tyrone Mings had to do most of the work, and his centre-back partner gave an insight into what it was like to face Haaland.
"He's very strong, he can hold up the ball, he can do everything really. He can run in behind, he's got pace, he's a great finisher," said Ezri Konsa.
"World class strikers, that's how they are. Sometimes they aren't in the game at all and then that one chance they do get, they bury it."
Gerrard struck a similar tone, too. For all the joy Villa had against him, he still scored - his tenth goal in six games, a joint-Premier League record - and could have had more if Kyle Walker had passed to him in the opening minutes or if he had converted a couple of half-chances at 1-0.
“It is going to be fascinating how it works out because even when he is not right at it or got the accelerator right down, he’s still a big threat,” Gerrard said after the game. The fact that a man that has seen more than most in the Premier League as one of the elite former players already inducted into the competition's Hall of Fame is fascinated by Haaland speaks volumes of what City have on their hands this season.
City fans won't be used to agreeing with Liverpool great Gerrard, but they too can't wait to see how this year unfolds with the Norwegian striker leading the line for their team.
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