How do you build a Premier League title-winning defence?

Manchester City’s win rate continues to move in a straight line, unchecked and unstopped, and a significant factor might be because their backline is doing the same.

“There’s definitely been some modification with the way the full-backs play,” Lee Dixon says. “When doing analysis for the game, I noticed that the four were in a line quite a lot of the time. City never used to be like that. The positioning used to be quite unusual.

“Very rarely are they in the same place twice in a game. But there are patterns of play you see, and certainly, watching City, defensively, they look a lot more solid in that respect.”

This is something that Dixon, analysing the rescheduled game against Everton for Amazon Prime on Wednesday, is well qualified to comment on. He was part of one of the greatest backlines the English game has ever seen, at Arsenal. The core won three titles together, from 1989 to 1998, and this season has duly represented something of a throwback. Amid a congested calendar, managers like Pep Guardiola have realised they have to adapt, and it has meant a more solid approach.

“I’m not on the City training ground, but you can tell by the relationship between Ruben Dias and John Stones, and the full-backs, that they’ve been doing some work. They’ve been finding their partnerships, which is what a back four is all about: if you’re out of possession, getting in position.”

Key to this has been the resurgence of a former Everton player, in Stones.

“John Stones has had some personal issues that he’s battled through, and he’s got to the point now where we’re actually seeing him as he was when he left Everton. He’s always been very good positionally, always been quick, reads a game really well. He takes the odd chance, as we know. He’s a ball-playing centre-half, he’s going to get caught out now and again.

“The trouble with John in the early days when he went to City, he was such a talent, and I don’t think Pep wanted to discourage his playing out from the back. I don’t think John knew how to get himself out of trouble and, in his head, it just got worse and worse, mistake after mistake. You tend to forget then about how good a defender he is positionally, because you see all the other stuff. I think he’s got rid of all those mistakes now, simplified his game a little bit. He’s not afraid of slamming it into the top of the stand, I’ve seen him do that quite a lot this season.

“Positionally he’s first class at the moment.”

Dixon knows from experience the net effect of such defensive assurance on a team.

“You can feel it when the defence starts to keep clean sheets, and becomes a bit machine-like, definitely. There are times on the pitch, when you’re a bit more experienced, you sense the danger, and you can feel you’re in a vulnerable position, and you get this kind of hot flush. ‘I’m out of position here, if they play this ball, I’m in trouble.’ So you change your position in order to take that feeling away, and there’s certainly, if you’re playing in a back four that complements each other, those occasions become less and less, because you know you’re getting into position earlier. You’re comfortable with the cover you’ve got as your centre-half, so it starts to become machine-like, and you start to churn out these performances.

“What that does for the midfield players is that they think, ‘we can look this way, rather than drop off because we might be in a bit of trouble, we can be a bit more on the front foot’, and the forwards go ‘we only need one goal, and we’ll win’. That 1-0 to the Arsenal, it became a thing.

“City are fortunate enough to be able to win 3-0 and 4-0, but having said that there’s been quite a few games this season where they’re not blowing teams away. They might win 1-0, and go ‘thanks very much’. There’s definitely a feeling that comes with that solidity of defence that knows what they’re doing.”

Everton now have to figure out how to breach them. It is a more difficult task without the injured Dominic Calvert-Lewin, but then part of Carlo Ancelotti’s issues this season have been how hot and cold his side have blown. They can look very different from one game to the next, as they search for some kind of consistency.

Dixon argues this comes from the same kind of team principles as that with the defence, and is what really separates sides at the top level.

“Like James Rodriguez, you look at him and he can do everything, then you don’t see him for two games. It’s the ability to be able to do that, churning results out, and eight or nine of you doing it every week so you’re only carrying two - as opposed to carrying four.

“It’s natural selection. If you can’'t do that, you end up playing for Everton, instead of [City]. And that’s not being cruel to Everton, it’s why the better players end up at the top. It’s ability, it’s consistency, it’s the ability to churn out results every week, performances every week, that’s a big thing.”

Everton are going to need one of their big performances, to breach a defence that looks to in line for a title.

Everton vs Manchester City will be shown live on Amazon Prime Video on the 17th February with coverage starting from 7.30pm. On-screen talent for the fixture includes Simon Thomas, Michael Owen, Eddie Howe and Lee Dixon, as well as commentators Peter Drury and Ally McCoist.