Since the very start of the Championship season, the other 22 teams have been playing catch up with Leeds United and West Brom. Now as we near the season's resume, it's hard to think that one dominant force wouldn't have existed without the other.

Marcelo Bielsa is soon going to be lauded in West Yorkshire. He is set to become the man who finally gifted Leeds to the Premier League after a 16 year hiatus, doing so in only his second season at the club. Slaven Bilic looks set to complete a similar achievement with West Brom, albeit not as dramatic as Leeds' feat is bound to be, but his side and Bielsa's have been the teams to beat throughout.

At first it was West Brom who were leading the pack. They had a fine first-half of the season and were at times starting to pull away from Leeds. Bielsa's side held their own though. They kept the heat on West Brom throughout and eventually they surpassed them, and now it's hard to see West Brom reclaiming that top spot in the final nine games of the season.

Leeds' season hasn't been without its blips though. Come Christmas time - the time of joy and celebrations, and often the scene of Leeds' inevitable demise - the neutral fan was willing Leeds to 'fall apart' in a fashion so accustomed to them, and that same fate looked to be dawning on the club once again after a dismal 2-0 defeat at the City Ground at the start of February.

That loss was Leeds' fourth in five league games and it pulled them down to level on points with 3rd-place Fulham, and only two ahead of then 5th-place Brentford. West Brom remained a point ahead of Leeds, and their 2-0 win at a wet and windy Millwall the following day saw them take a four point lead over Leeds.

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At that point - with West Brom pulling away and Leeds falling into the midst of the chasing pack - it looked as though the dream was over. As though Leeds were 'falling apart. It was panning out to be the same story of last season. Bielsa had worked Leeds so hard in the first-half of the campaign that they had no legs come the second.

Last season it was Norwich who won the title. They lost just six Championship games all season as they racked up 94 points - five more than runners-up Sheffield United and and whole 11 ahead of Leeds. But Norwich never looked as though they could win the title so comfortably, in fact they won just one of their opening six games in the Championship last season. It was only for them losing once in the league through 2019 that they could be crowned Champions.

Norwich's rise then was in tandem with Leeds' demise. Leeds were the ones who were running away with it. After Kemar Roofe's injury time double stole a 3-2 win over Blackburn Rovers in December 2018, they were the ones with a three point lead over Norwich in second, and a six-point gap over West Brom in 3rd.

But as Leeds have been the ones trailing this season, forever a point or two behind a painfully consistent and efficient West Brom side, it's given them a constant target. In West Brom they've had a persistent threat to their Premier League dreams and it's truly brought the best out of them. This Championship season will be remembered for their standout qualities - amongst other, more global events of course - and Bielsa may well be thanking Bilic for his and West Brom's services to Leeds United this season.