City always look "off it" early in the season but do just enough to keep pace. Then go on an insane run the last couple of months. Again, they have a superior squad to everyone else, it's not even close.
Again, I've agreed with your assertions regarding their squad etc. You asked me, for my opinion, regarding whether I was shocked that they now look like winning it again. The answer is yes (obviously with the terminology "shocked" being hyperbolic in this particular instance).
Again, I'm well aware they "usually" do this. However, I felt they looked pretty dodgy a-few months ago, and maybe the desire had dropped slightly, coming off the back of a treble winning season. At the time, Liverpool were jamming their way through games with the assistance of the FA and it all looked like faith that the FA would indeed reward Klopp with a PL trophy in his farewell season. Yourselves were also smashing all the minnows week-in-week-out. City, for me, didn't look 'at it' whatsoever.
I certainly didn't think anything would change in a weekend where all of the three teams had winnable home games. Villa was obviously the most difficult, but I still expected a 97th minute Rice winner or something of that ilk.