Unai Emery said he was not getting carried away by Aston Villa's "amazing" start to their Champions League campaign, with "dangerous" tournament debutants Viking up next.
Villa return to Villa Park on Wednesday to take on the Norwegian minnows fresh from recording their biggest-ever win in European competition against Fenerbahce last time out.
Nicolas Jackson and Ross Barkley both scored twice in a 6-0 thrashing, but they will come up against a Viking side that had Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich on the ropes.
Gianni Stensness and Peter Christiansen had put Viking two goals up by half-time, but Ballon d'Or favourite Harry Kane scored twice in quick succession to level things up.
Bayern then took the lead through Luis Diaz, but after Michael Olise was sent off soon after, Herman Haugen popped up with a 90th-minute equaliser to seal a share of the spoils.
This will be just the third time Viking have faced an English opponent, after two meetings with Chelsea in the first round of the 2002-03 UEFA Cup (lost 1-2 away, won 4-2 at home), as they look to become the first Norwegian side ever to win away to an English side in European competition.
However, if Villa win here, they will be the second-fastest team to reach 20 European Cup/Champions League victories (in their 30th game), only behind Real Madrid (won 20 of first 29), while they could win four consecutive games for the first time in the competition.
But Emery was not underestimating Viking, telling reporters: "Champions League. Every team that plays Champions League because they deserve it, and they are dangerous.
"Viking, they drew against Bayern Munich last week; they lost against Stuttgart. They are with Bodo/Glimt in the league, first and second with the same points.
"Bodo/Glimt has been a successful team in the last few years in Europe, performing well, getting good results, playing in the Champions League, beating important teams.
"So Viking is now a new team as well, with the capacity to draw against Bayern Munich, the capacity as well to compete against Stuttgart and to compete against us.
"This is the Champions League, and it is very difficult. We now have six points. It's something amazing, but very difficult, and to keep the same way we are is our challenge."
During last week's win over Fenerbahce, Johan Manzambi marked his Champions League debut, and his 21st birthday, with a goal and another impressive display.
In doing so, he became the second player, after Spartak Moscow's Romulo vs Barcelona in September 2012 (22 years old), to find the back of the net on his first appearance in the competition on his birthday.
Manzambi followed that up with another goal against Newcastle United in the Premier League, becoming the fourth Villa player to either score or assist in each of their first three Premier League starts after Dalian Atkinson in August 1992, Dion Dublin in November 1998 and Danny Ings in August 2021.
Since his first start for the club (September 19 against Tottenham), only Manchester City's Erling Haaland (six) has been involved in more goals among Premier League players in all competitions than Manzambi (five – three goals, two assists).
However, the Switzerland international was replaced by Ibrahim Mbaye in the 72nd minute at St. James' Park with what Emery described in his pre-match press conference as a "minor injury".
Manzambi's absence adds to mounting medical issues, with Matteo Ruggeri expected to miss roughly two months and Aaron Wan-Bissaka sidelined for three to four weeks.
But Emery refused to use Villa's series of injuries as an excuse, adding: "We are accepting of the injuries we had before.
"So many players we had injured in our process here, and now we're still having some, like [Amadou] Onana for a long time, like Matteo for more or less two months.
"Coming back and joining us is Ian Maatsen. He's joined us and is training with us this week.
"Manzambi has a small injury. He's not available [against Viking]. Aaron [Wan-Bissaka] has an injury as well. More or less, we expect three or four weeks.
"We have enough players, no excuses, and we'll find solutions if we need to achieve our performance, of course, collectively and individually in each position."