A group of Liverpool players were soaked by the sprinkler in the hours before kick-off here and the league leaders nearly suffered a far more serious shock during the 90 minutes that followed.
The Reds missed enough chances to win this comfortably yet needed a second-half equaliser from Trent Alexander-Arnold to take them eight points clear of Arsenal, who have a game in hand.
A point at Aston Villa is never a bad result yet the significance of this will become apparent only after Liverpool’s next two games. Beat Manchester City and Newcastle, and this looks a decent night’s work.