The strength of Aston Villa and Chelsea is still not comparable to the strength of the current top three teams, namely Arsenal, Man City and Liverpool. And yes, the strongest candidate in the race for the title looks like it will still be the same as the previous season. But it is quite difficult to choose which team among the three teams will become champions this season. We have to look at this season until more than the middle of the season or even have to look at the end of the season like last season. Where we saw that Arsenal, Liverpool and Man City had the same opportunities last season before 2 weeks at the end of last season. Something similar could happen, namely intense competition could occur again until the end of the season. And regarding Chelsea and Aston Villa we cannot underestimate them. because surprises could happen this season. Considering that it has been a long time since there have been any surprising results this season. The last time there was a surprising result in the Premier League was when Leicester City became champions in the 2015-16 season. And that was quite a long time ago.
You are right that while Aston Villa and Chelsea can be in the top 5 of the table, they are not as strong as Liverpool or City. The performance of both these teams is relatively erratic. So these two teams are not favorites to win the title. The battle for the title will essentially be between City, Liverpool and Arsenal.
Last season we saw Arsenal and City battle it out for the title. The two teams continued to fight for the title till the last match of the season. The season was also quite competitive. However, the Liverpool team was a bit behind in the previous season. However, Liverpool are in a very good position this season. The team is strong both in attack and defense. So far, the Liverpool team has managed to occupy the top spot in the table.
There is little chance for Chelsea or Aston Villa to win the title because Arsenal, Man City and Liverpool are the biggest favorite teams until the tight competition from these three teams that have a big chance to win the title. With Chelsea in the top four, I think it is quite a good achievement because with their own performance improvement that can make them in a ranking that is at least quite profitable. Liverpool is the team that leads the standings and of course this is quite difficult for Arsenal and Man City to win the title, they have new rivals in fighting for the title because indeed with the previous season where Liverpool was quite far behind but now they are performing well to become the team that conceded the fewest goals. There is a chance for Liverpool to win the league title as long as they can maintain their performance well in terms of defense and attack.