Manchester City's unbeaten league run under Enzo Maresca is over after a 2-1 defeat at Aston Villa, but the bigger talking point was the absence of record signing Ayyoub Bouaddi.
Villa struck inside six minutes when a loose touch from Marc Guehi fell to Nicolas Jackson. Erling Haaland levelled, only for Jackson to restore the lead and seal the win for Unai Emery's side.
The loss is City's first in the league this season, having won all seven of their opening fixtures under Maresca, who replaced Pep Guardiola in June.
Bouaddi, the 19-year-old who arrived from Lille for £86 million in the final weeks of the summer window, did not feature at Villa Park. He had made his first Premier League start in the 3-2 win over Ipswich Town a few weeks ago.
Guehi was booked for a foul on Jackson and withdrawn at the interval, with Maresca calling the change a technical decision.
"I think against PSG it was a bit different," Maresca said. "I think today we needed technical midfielders, that's why Rayan [Cherki] was out and Phil [Foden] was inside."
He added that Enzo Fernandez and Elliot Anderson, the combined £241 million arrivals from Chelsea and Nottingham Forest this summer, both had a very good game.
City were also without Antoine Semenyo, ruled out for around eight weeks after an injury against Ipswich.
The defeat leaves City on 21 points from eight matches. Arsenal, the reigning champions, hosted Everton later on Saturday and claimed a 2-0 win at the Emirates.
Off the pitch, an independent commission published a guilty verdict on 114 of 115 charges on 29 September, and the club lodged a comprehensive appeal at 7pm on 1 October.
Maresca's side had also lost 4-2 to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League earlier this month before bouncing back with a 5-1 beating of AEK Athens at the Etihad.
City host Brighton twice in four days this week: in the Carabao Cup fourth round on Wednesday night, then in the Premier League on Saturday.