Pep Guardiola’s transformation of Manchester City this season was sparked by his own shock at failing to master the Premier League in his debut campaign. In finishing third last May – a yawning 15 points behind the champions Chelsea – Guardiola was forced to accept he had underestimated English football. And so the 46-year-old manager, determined to make City successful in his second term in the Premier League, decided he should become more open to advice. From first-team scouts to his inner circle, Guardiola was desperate for any nugget of information that might rocket his team skyward in 2017-18.

His desire to listen and openness to the opinion of others are reaping their rewards – and how. On Sunday at Old Trafford City have the chance to equal the Premier League’s record winning run of 14 games by beating their derby rivals Manchester United. They stand top of the table, eight points clear of José Mourinho’s side. They have scored 46 goals to United’s 35. City are runaway leaders. So whose advice has Guardiola been heeding?

The role of Mikel Arteta, who is a joint assistant coach along with Brian Kidd, Rodolfo Borrell and Domènec Torrent, has been pivotal. In the summer of 2016 Arteta had just left Arsenal following a successful playing career. He was hired initially as an English-speaking Spaniard who knew the domestic game.

Yet Arteta’s role has developed: he has become the ideal foil for the strong-minded Guardiola, an adviser willing to offer honest opinion on tactics and team matters. With a combined 11 years of experience at Everton and the Gunners, and still only 35, Arteta has proven a vital link between manager and squad.

In addition, Guardiola’s openness has made him popular with those staff whose role it is to assess the opposition. City’s first-team scouts have warmed to a willingness to engage, finding the double Champions League-winning coach and former Barcelona manager humble enough to heed their advice.

Guardiola also has his key constituency on the board: the players themselves. Any doubts about his methods have been answered both on the training ground and on match day. On arrival in east Manchester a charge levelled at Guardiola was that his gilded success derived solely because he had Lionel Messi at Barcelona, or that at Bayern Munich he was taking over the Bundesliga’s dominant force.

Such accusations cannot be made any more. Kevin De Bruyne leads the City A-listers who have been convinced by Guardiola. When at Chelsea four years ago the Belgian was underwhelmed by the tactical nous of the man in the opposite dugout at Old Trafford on Sunday, Mourinho. Then 21, De Bruyne felt the Portuguese’s vision of how the game should be played was limited.

De Bruyne holds the opposite view of Guardiola, believing his sublime talent is being burnished by the manager. Likewise, Raheem Sterling, whose 13 goals already exceed his previous best for a full season and include six result-changers, with five winners. Or John Stones who has switched from unreliable to accomplished stalwart of the back line under Guardiola’s tutelage.

The central defender, who misses Sunday’s derby with a hamstring problem, says: “This team has been a joy to play in – he [Guardiola] is very demanding. Every day he wants to improve you as a player and I feel I have done that off the pitch as well. You have also seen that with Leroy [Sané] and Raheem.

“A few games ago he told us that we were winning because we were playing simple. A lot of the football we play is one or two touches.

“He has taken my football brain to another level – understanding different systems, how to play against different teams and knowing my individual role. Simple messages that will help you on the pitch, will help you better than having too much to think about. And that’s what Pep does, by giving you little hints here and there without overloading you.

“Last season it was new to us. We knew what we were doing but it didn’t click like this season. That’s down to players’ workrate and team togetherness.”

Those close to the squad speak of the bond being genuine. Stones was in the side that claimed a 1-0 victory in September at Chelsea, perhaps the result of Guardiola’s City tenure so far, as it came away to champions and in the wake of Sergio Agüero’s car crash in Amsterdam and Benjamin Mendy’s serious knee injury. At the final whistle, the noise and celebration in City’s changing room was raucous.

Winning helps build team spirit, of course, but what also emerges is a picture of Guardiola’s own brand of man-management reaping a high dividend. While Stones talks of the manager importing his message in a few words, De Bruyne has spoken privately of how Guardiola can be a distant figure, speaking to him only when necessary – but it counting when he does.

Guardiola’s ability to draw the best from his players is illustrated by the apparent contentment of Yaya Touré. At one stage a year ago, Guardiola completely excluded him from the squad, after unpalatable comments from his agent, and this season the Ivorian has been dropped. Yet Touré is a figure transformed and the 34-year-old himself acknowledges a hunger to perform and still impress his manager.

The demanding nature Stones speaks of is reflected in the way professionalism has been elevated throughout the club. After three years at City Nicolás Otamendi is finally learning English at the manager’s behest. The hitherto erratic Argentinian is enjoying his finest form, and his willingness to embrace English is yet another sign of an all-encompassing desire to make the Guardiola era at City golden.

The greatest indicator of how the manager has revolutionised City since reassessing can be found where it matters: in results. After 15 Premier League games only two points have been dropped. In all, they are unbeaten in 23 league matches, stretching back to a loss at Chelsea in April. Wednesday night’s reverse at Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League was the first in 227 days in any competition and would surely have been avoided had Guardiola not fielded a makeshift side so as to rest players for Sunday’s derby, a match that may well decide the title. Win it and City will open up an 11-point gap at the top.

City are doing all of this while playing breathtaking football. There is still a long way to go, of course, but Guardiola has proved he can learn and adapt: what happens from here should be fascinating.