Chelsea and Liverpool served up a game that did little to quell suggestions that their seasons could be a wild ride in an open match at Stamford Bridge.
The Reds had the better of the opening exchanges, and after Mo Salah had struck the crossbar with a curling effort from the edge of the area, the Egyptian's superb ball across the box was turned in by a sliding Luis Diaz.
Liverpool could have had more goals, and saw Salah have a strike chalked off by VAR, but their weakness in the centre of midfield was then exposed as Chelsea improved, and Axel Disasi stole in behind a static defence to equalise on his debut.
Both sides then had their chances in the second half, when Liverpool had a good shout for a penalty for a handball against Nicolas Jackson.
Liverpool sub Darwin Nunez fired just wide from distance and Chelsea replacement Mykhaylo Mudryk also came close after a break, but the game ended in a draw after 90 minutes for the fifth time in a row in this fixture.
Here are main talking points.
1. Reds go on the attack
What do you do when you haven't got enough midfielders? You play some more attackers.
Liverpool's setup from the start here might have surprised some people, but if you saw enough of their pre-season - and enough of their lack of transfer activity, although you can't miss that - then it always seemed pretty likely that they would go with Cody Gakpo in an advanced midfield role behind a more conventional front three, with the other two midfielders hardly shrinking violets when it comes to attacking either.
When it works it all adds up to vastly entertaining fare, and effective fare too given the Reds' attacking in the early exchanges. The setup allowed them to get on top of a Chelsea side which looked nervous, and for the opening half an hour it really only looked like one team was scoring.
2. The sharpness of Salah
It doesn't matter how many attackers or midfielders you have on the pitch though, if one of them is Salah then it is likely to spell bad news for the opposition eventually.
Although stationed on the right, the Egyptian was central to all the chaos the Reds were causing in the opening period, and he could have had a hat-trick were his shot that hit the bar a little lower, his one that was cleared off the line hit in a slightly different spot and if he hadn't been caught offside by VAR.
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For his one impact on the scoresheet in the first half he threaded a superb ball across the box for Diaz to come barrelling in to finish, showing once again that he will be a force to be reckoned with this season, a season when he'll want to be on the pitch more often than not judging by his reaction to coming off late on.
Clearly angered, he first threw up his arms when he saw the No.11 go up on the substitutes' board, with that fume then made all the worse when each throw of the tape he peeled off his wrists was met with glee by jubilant Chelsea fans, who still haven't forgotten his past here.
Salah might have to answer to Jurgen Klopp for that, but his influence in the second half had clearly waned.
3. Chelsea turn the tables
When you play like Liverpool do though, you always leave yourself open to the opposition seizing on your weakness and turning you around, which is exactly what Chelsea did shortly after the Salah disallowed goal.
It had been the Blues who were too easy to play through in the opening half an hour of the game, but suddenly that became Liverpool as an overwhelmed Alexis Mac Allister was swarmed around and Dominik Szoboszlai's influence waned.
Chelsea got on top and an equaliser suddenly appeared inevitable, with Liverpool unable to maintain control of the ball for long enough. When it came, as Disasi stole in amid lax defending, it was just rewards for the hosts sensing where they could exert authority, and Liverpool buckled under the pressure.
4. Pochettino presses his style onto Chelsea
The architect of all of this was of course Pochettino, who had initially cut somewhat of a disgruntled figure for much of the first half until his side's drastic improvement.
Wearing all black as we often used to see in his Tottenham days and demonstrating that familiar approach full of enthusiasm for his players, when they deserved it, the new man looked at home in surroundings and completely appears to have won over any fans who were skeptical of his appointment given his Tottenham past.
5. The obvious question
So, which of these two clubs could do with a £110m central midfielder? The answer is both, in truth.
Chelsea already have one who pretty much cost that in Enzo Fernandez of course, and he battled away as you'd expect him to do against a Liverpool side who used Mac Allister in that role, but will get much more out of him if they play him higher up.
Both will surely sign a player or players who play in that position, whoever they are, and until they do you feel as though they resemble a puzzle with pieces missing.
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