The missing Man City partnership that can change the Premier League table

Manchester City are going to have to put together a winning run to challenge their efforts in the previous two seasons if they are to challenge Liverpool for the Premier League title.

Sunday's defeat to Anfield stretches the gap to nine points between the two main title rivals (as well as adding two other teams between them), increasing Jurgen Klopp's chances of finally landing the trophy that the red half of Merseyside covets most.

However, the achievements of Pep Guardiola's side over the last two years are enough to warn anyone thinking this title race is run.

In 2017 they embarked on 18 consecutive wins to blow all opponents out of the water on their way to a record-breaking 100 points . The following year the final touches were being added to Liverpool's coronation in January before the Blues won their last 14 matches to overturn a seven-point deficit and do something no other team had managed in a decade: retain the title.

Looking at those two winning runs, what becomes clear is not only that Guardiola used a variety of centre-back pairings but that he gravitated towards two of them more than any others. The season is long and with four competitions it is not possible to be successful without using all of your resources intelligently.

In the first he used four defenders and four partnerships but John Stones and Nicolas Otamendi (eight matches) and Otamendi and Vincent Kompany (six matches) were turned to with the most frequency.

It was a similar story the following year. Either Kompany and Aymeric Laporte (five matches) or Laporte and Stones (four matches) were used in the majority of games; three other pairings accounted for the remaining five fixtures.

One thing City haven't had this season is defensive solidity. Laporte's long-term injury has unsettled a Blues backline already one short following Vincent Kompany's summer departure, and a flurry of other injuries have made it difficult to pick the same defence consistently.

Despite that, one partnership has emerged. In the 12 Premier League and Champions League fixtures since Laporte's injury, Otamendi and Fernandinho have started together in half of them and if the Wolves defeat was notably bad they picked up wins in the first four and looked on course for a comfortable night against Atalanta until Ederson was substituted.

The problem has been the second pair. Guardiola has tried three different combinations in the other six matches, split between Stones and Fernandinho (three), Rodri and Fernandinho (two) and Stones and Otamendi (one).

If City are to put together a similar run of results that can get them back in the title race, Guardiola is going to need to find one of these three duos that can become a stress-free pairing that brings confidence, solidity and consistency to the backline.

And if that sounds like one almighty ask, Stones and Otamendi have shown both together and separately that they are capable of stepping up - and they've got the winners' medals to prove it.