Should there have been any Manchester City fans getting a little overexcited about the Blues' title prospects this season, then Saturday's 1-1 draw at Aston Villa will have brought them back down to earth with a bump.
After a week that saw Erling Haaland score hat-tricks in consecutive games, City win twice — one after being 2-0 down at half-time — and both Liverpool and Chelsea continue their inconsistent starts to the campaign, some allowed themselves to fantasize about the prospect of City running away with the title.
No matter that Arsenal are still top of the table because, well, it is Arsenal. After Liverpool's 2-1 defeat to Manchester United two weeks ago, a result that condemned Jurgen Klopp's side to a third game without a win, some impatient football fans declared the title race over, as the Merseysiders were surely the only side capable of stealing City's crown. READ MORE: Man City wastefulness vs Aston Villa shows not even Erling Haaland can stop inevitable problem Of course, such sentiment was, and is, absolutely ludicrous.
Nobody knows that better than Pep Guardiola. When asked whether he'd watched Liverpool stumble in their third league outing, he revealed (perhaps tongue-in-cheek, perhaps not) he'd been at Girona versus Getafe instead.