Man City and Liverpool’s relentless form is leading the Premier League title race to the cruelest of anti-climaxes

In the immediate aftermath of Manchester City’s Champions League elimination, some around the Liverpool squad were openly debating whether the manner of it could derail the champions, but Pep Guardiola wasn’t getting into that. He wasn’t saying much about it at all, in fact, least of all to his squad.

Guardiola knew there was no need. No special speech was required. He trusted their resolve, and their ability to respond.

So it was that City showed serious mettle in immediately winning what were notionally their two toughest remaining matches, by beating Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 and Manchester United 2-0.

There was some serious tension in both matches, particularly against Spurs late on, but there was no genuine jeopardy… nor drama. The most meaningful moments remained the goals. All were scored relatively early, with the games staying on a fairly steady tempo of slightly stifling tension thereafter.

That might be entirely in-keeping with this run-in, however, and the majority of the season’s title race as a whole.

It does now seem possible - probably even highly likely - that we will have a campaign climax with no actual climax at all.

It might just see the continuation of straight winning streaks, direct run-throughs, with none of the twists and turns that truly elevate title races as drama.

We might really see a run-in where both just go and win all their games, leaving City to win the title again.

The form of both just looks too good, their remaining fixtures just looking too winnable.

And while the whole history of the league shows that slips and upsets come when you least expect it - Arsenal in 2002/03 dropped points to 16th-place Aston Villa and 17th-place Bolton Wanderers - that is also the key issue. There is just such little precedent for dropped points with these two.

We’re already at the stage where Liverpool and City have collectively dropped fewer than any previous top two in history, and there are no indications that is going to subside. It is almost two months since there was any slip at all, and that was Liverpool’s 0-0 draw at Everton.

Together, in the time since City’s own 2-1 New Year win over Liverpool, the points dropped have been a mere 11 - out of 84 available.

The two challengers could end the season with winning runs of nine games and 14 games, respectively.

If that happens, it will have two important implications, related to the wider issue of how the season will be judged and how we enjoy the sport.

The first is that it could mean that the last tangible turning point in the title race - when the initiative went from Liverpool to City, who then knew winning all their remaining games would win them the title - was as long ago as March.

That could end up exceptionally cruel on a Jurgen Klopp team who have done so exceptionally well to maximise everything about themselves and keep pace with the most lavish project in football history.

It could well ensure the following:

• that 2-1 defeat against Manchester City could have mathematically denied them the title, a centurion season, and an invincible season

• that January/February nervous wobble, when there was so much talk of “bottling it”, could have seen them lose the decisive lead. It was when six of those 11 points were dropped, as well as the chance of a seven-point lead

• that March 0-0 draw to Everton, their local rivals, could well have been the point they “lost” it. That was when City decisively claimed the initiative

Except, of course, “lost it” is very unfair when this entire run-in is based on historic winning records.

It would almost feel like Atletico Madrid in the 2014 and 2016 Champions League finals against Real Madrid, where the manager made them so unbelievably good it only set them up to suffer all the more painfully.

No one blamed Diego Simeone, then, and it would be impossible to blame Klopp or his players now. They have pushed themselves to the limit, but that is related to the wider point about how we watch the run-in.

The two teams may be great, but does that mean the run-in is great?

Some of it has actually been quite… boring. It’s been too routine.

The wins have come that bit too readily, even if the teams - and supporters - would rightfully say a stressful amount of emotional work has gone into them.

The latter can be true at the same time it is still true that there haven’t quite been the deeper trials that really elevate title races.

Liverpool have had those late winners against Spurs and Fulham, yes, but the emotional release has been somewhat undercut by the realisation that the team with the initiative - City - are likely to win all their games.

It isn’t like Liverpool in 2008/09, when Manchester United required comebacks from 2-0 down and a 17-year-old to score an injury-time winner in Federico Macheda. There were winning runs from both challengers, but with a much greater sense of peril.

And that’s the dramatic flaw with the lack of flaws in the two teams. Their relentlessness was engaging at the start, but has since become routine just when you anticipate excitement really ratcheting up.

Sporting drama, after all, has to have two sides.

City’s side has been seamless for so long. The last time they dropped points, 29 January, was also the last time they weren’t winning a game after the hour mark.

In the 11 victories since, the decisive and lasting leads have been secured by the following minutes: 44, 45, 4, 59, 55, 46, 5, 6, 15, 5, 54.

That means that, for the vast majority of their run-in, the last 30 minutes of matches - that stage when such title showdowns are really imbued with immersive tension and gloriously enticing raising of the stakes - have just been played out. We’ve had tension, but no real sense of suspense; of having to get it done.

The wonder now is whether that will be reflected in their season. Will they just be able to play out their last few games, in the way they’ve been able to play out the last half-hours of so many recent matches?

Will we see the drama that lifts the quality of the title race to the level of quality of the two teams involved?

We can but hope.

City’s trip to Burnley has the potential to be awkward, especially given how much Sean Dyche relishes the idea of his side putting it up to the big boys. If they get through that, there’s then the prospect of two former Liverpool managers - and the last two actually involved in title races, with all the scars they brought - potentially being kingmakers on the penultimate weekend. Newcastle United’s Rafa Benitez or Leicester City’s Brendan Rodgers could yet play a significant role in the trophy finally going to Anfield.

That would require a twist, however, of the type we’ve just not seen so far. The run-in right now is shaped for a straight run-through.

The perfection of the teams has counter-intuitively made for an imperfect spectacle.