On Sunday, Mauricio Pochettino and Tottenham Hotspur welcomed Pep Guardiola to White Hart Lane by handing the Spaniard his first defeat since taking charge at Manchester City, and the 2-0 result served as a reality check.

“They played better, that’s all,” said a humble Guardiola, who congratulated Tottenham in his postmatch comments.

After Guardiola terrorized England for six rounds, the Premier League finally emphatically beat him down in Round 7. With the victory, Tottenham moved into second place and only one point behind Man City. Mentally, Tottenham, along with having beaten the Sky Blues, can claim superiority as the only unbeaten side in the Premiership.

The beauty of those 90 minutes in North London is that they changed the tone of the season. They shattered the aura of invincibility for Guardiola’s Man City. They also fully restored the reality of competition in the Premier League, with Arsenal and Liverpool lurking only two points from the top, and provided a stern reminder of the stamina required to win the English top flight.

In fact, Tottenham looks like a worthwhile bet to the win the league, as Spurs have only allowed three goals in seven games. A season ago, Tottenham finished joint with Manchester United as the stingiest side in England with 35 goals conceded, and that included a 5-1 meltdown defeat to Newcastle on the final day of the season.

Spurs appear set to improve on their defensive prowess from a season ago. The shutout of Manchester City illustrated that point beyond the simple clean sheet. For starters, Victor Wanyama stood out as the best player in midfield for either side, and the Kenyan only joined Tottenham over the summer. Also, Heung-min Son overshadowed Sergio Aguero as the South Korean tormented City defenders and made goalkeeper Claudio Bravo incredibly uncomfortable with his high-energy pressure in the opposition’s half.

Wanyama primarily got an early run of games because of a suspension to Moussa Dembele, but even with the Belgian available, Wanyama continues to get the nod. Similarly, Spurs started the match without Eric Dier, who came on as a 72nd-minute substitute for Moussa Sissoko. Factor in Harry Kane’s injury and Spurs managed to dominate Manchester City without three key players from a side that arguably played the best football of the 2015-16 Premiership campaign.

So, the excuse that City is a broken side without Kevin De Bruyne doesn’t exactly fit when looking at the team that clobbered the Citizens on Sunday. Instead, Guardiola got his first true taste of the Premier League because the Premier League is not always sweet. This league has a habit of humbling even the greatest of managers.

Jurgen Klopp ate his humble pie a season ago when his midseason arrival couldn’t lift Liverpool into any of the European places. The scheduling advantage that came with that failure, though, perfectly fits into Liverpool’s pressing style of play that has seemingly permeated into the fabric of the 2016-17 Premier League campaign.

Not to be forgotten, the faces of tactical defensive football – Chelsea’s Antonio Conte, Leicester City’s Claudio Ranieri and Manchester United’s Jose Mourinho – have all failed to contain the high-pressing style of play. Leicester and Chelsea both gave up more than one goal in defeats to Liverpool, while United suffered the same style of defeat to Manchester City.

Eventually, the sturdy styles and experience of Mourinho, Conte and even Ranieri should pull all three of the four most recent Premier League champions back into the title race, but the fact that those world-class managers and their world-class squads, particularly Chelsea and Manchester United, are on the outside looking in at the moment tells the story of why the Premier League is the best domestic competition in Europe.

Had Guardiola and Manchester City won on Sunday, seven perfect weeks would have provided the Sky Blues a five-point cushion and only strengthened their aura of invincibility. The 2-0 loss, however, served as a dose of reality and an example of the Premier League as the most competitive championship in Europe.

Nearly a fifth of the way through the season, any of the top seven could finish holding aloft Premier League silverware without setting off shockwaves and hysteria, and yes, that includes fifth-place Everton. No other league in Europe can boast anywhere near the same claim of parity, which is precisely what makes the Premier League special.

Shahan Ahmed is a soccer columnist for Yahoo! Sports. Follow Shahan on Twitter: @ShahanLA and @perfectpass