Recent title races have been thrilling because two seemingly flawless sides have gone head-to-head.

An outbreak of pre-Pep Guardiola normality has broken out in this year as it is the deficiencies of Liverpool and Arsenal that may yet make this duel an edge-of-the-seat drama until the closing weeks.

We are not in a season of witnessing two spectacularly proficient teams trading blows. This feels like a different world to when Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp threw the ceremonial gauntlet at each others' feet from one game to the next, or Guardiola and Mikel Arteta in last season's run-in when it seemed as if one slip on any given weekend was fatal.

There have been moments in the last few years when one of the main challengers needed only to score an early goal and fans of their rivals would find something better to do than punish themselves watching on. Not this season. None of the remaining fixtures are formalities for either team, regardless of league positions.

There is little to suggest Arne Slot or Arteta's side will indulge in the kind of winning streak that took the clubs so close in recent times, denied by City's sheer relentlessness and last day heartbreak.

With respect, neither side might need to demonstrate such consistency, which until not-so-long-ago was unprecedented.

The control which was such a feature of Slot's stylish march to the top before the new year is now giving way to more chaotic encounters reminiscent of Klopp's challenge which ran out of steam before his grand farewell. Liverpool had to settle for 82 points last May. It felt meagre, and yet in seven of the Premier League seasons since 1992-93 that too would have been enough for them to wear the crown.

On average, 87.8 points have been enough to become champions - a figure which has increased since Manchester City made 90 points-plus the norm, even breaking the century barrier in 2018.

Liverpool would need to win nine of their remaining twelve games to hit that tally, and Arsenal twelve of their remaining thirteen to eclipse it. It does not feel like either team is in the kind of form to register such a total, so we are witnessing a return to orthodoxy; a campaign in which the eventual champions will be recognised as the best of the season rather than inviting comparisons with the greatest of all-time, as has been the case for the past seven title winners.

For the time-being, there are enough imperfections and lapses to give both managers hope.

Across their last 14 fixtures, Liverpool have kept just four clean sheets, a shut-out against Accrington Stanley among them. The longer this season is going, the more gaps are appearing in front of and within a backline which was the foundation of success a few weeks ago. They conceded poor goals to Villa on Wednesday night.

So far, these malfunctions remain a cause of mild concern to Slot more than any fear the campaign will unravel.

When you leave Villa Park with a point and an eight point lead over your closest rivals, it is hardly a reason to panic.

It would have been better had Darwin Nunez not endured such a calamitous cameo - Liverpool really need him to start delivering more in pivotal moments - and worse had Villa taken the opportunity to leave Liverpool raging in injury-time for a successive week.

A title run-in usually involves issuing more statements than the Bank of England.

It feels like Liverpool have been waiting a while for one. They will hope it comes at the Etihad this weekend.

Overall, Liverpool felt neither upbeat nor elated at full-time. In most eras, the first place side would consider a draw at a fellow Champions League participant satisfactory.

Assessed through the prism of what has been required to win the Premier League since Guardiola changed the rules of engagement, there was little in the way of celebration.

It would be incorrect to say Liverpool and Arsenal may stumble to victory come May. They do not look equipped to stampede towards it, either.

If last year's title race resembled a marathon and a sprint, this one has all the hallmarks of the more usual long distance races where the competitors will have to tough it out, occasionally pause for breath, and hope they have more stamina than their opponent in the final straight.