Manchester City's Erling Haaland (centre) scores during the Premier League match at Villa Park — City would be on 12 points instead of 21 if his goals were taken away © Martin Rickett/PA
By the time Enzo Maresca was picking the bones out of his first Premier League defeat in charge of Manchester City, the virtual table showed he had company at the top. City and Arsenal are now only separated by goal difference. They might be evenly matched, or end up separated by 19 places.