It looks like Pep Guardiola has a fight on his hands if he is to win an unprecedented four Premier League titles in a row with Manchester City.

Goals from Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold and Arsenal’s Kai Havertz saw the defending champions knocked off the top of the table, with Liverpool securing a 1-1 draw against City and Arsenal scoring late to beat Brentford 1-0, meaning Arsenal sits atop the table by one point.

This season’s surprise package, Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham, could go level on points with second-place City if they beat Aston Villa. Villa have the chance to move level with third-place Liverpool and a point behind Guardiola’s team.

But it is Jurgen Klopp with his Liverpool squad, and Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal, who have experience of pushing Guardiola all the way, with Liverpool the only team to break City’s supremacy over the past six years when crowned champions in 2020.

Klopp has rebuilt the squad that won every major honour for Liverpool from 2019-22. And his new-look team served notice by ending City’s 100 per cent winning home record in the league when Alexander-Arnold’s 80th-minute strike evened the score after Erling Haaland’s opener.

“For us I think we passed a test today, I am not sure if it was ‘the’ test,” Klopp said.

“Last year with a team that played long together we got completely under the wheels here (losing 4-1) and had no real chance. Today we had a chance.”

The result meant Arsenal had their chance to go top, having led the table for 248 days last season before falling away late on.

Post-match also saw a heated exchange between Guardiola and Liverpool start Darwin Nunez, with Darwin appearing to point towards the goal while talking to the manager, before things things became “emotional”.

“I was not involved … surprisingly,” Klopp said after the match, having restrained Darwin in a hug during the altercation.

“I love them both so I tried to calm the situation down without knowing 100 per cent what happened because I couldn’t understand a word.

“It’s emotional. Pep wants to win, we want to win. And both didn’t win.”

Guardiola said his team was upset but focused on moving forward.

“We are hungry and upset in the locker room, but it was an incredibly great game,” Guardiola said.

“We were not going to win or lose the Premier League today, we just had to be ourselves.”

City striker Haaland set a Premier League record by scoring 50 goals in the fewest number of games.

He reached that milestone in his 48th match, breaking the record held by former Manchester United and Newcastle striker Andy Cole, who took 65 games.

Meanwhile, Chelsea’s heaviest loss under Mauricio Pochettino — 4-1 to Newcastle — prompted Brazil defender Thiago Silva to apologise to fans on social media.

Chelsea have now conceded four goals in back-to-back games, following the 4-4 draw with Manchester City earlier this month.