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.
