Crazy West Brom revelation shows the sheer class of Leeds, Leicester City and co: View | OneFootball

West Bromwich Albion will be hoping to cement their place in the top six after the current international break.

The Baggies have headed into the domestic pause with an eight-point cushion over seventh placed Hull City but will also look to secure fifth spot over Norwich City, with Albion leading the Canaries by five points.

Ever since the last international break back in November last year, West Brom have collected 12 victories from their last 22 league outings, keeping themselves firmly in the mix to return to the Premier League at the third time of asking.

The Baggies have punched well above their weight given the financial concerns surrounding the club during the tenure of Guochuan Lai but have kept up a consistent level of good performances to steer themselves away from other promotion rivals.

This type of form under Corberan, particularly making The Hawthorns a fortress, would usually put the Black Country outfit in an automatic promotion race, but a recent and mind-boggling revelation proves the second tier is as difficult to get out of than ever before.

Former West Brom correspondent for the Birmingham Mail Joe Chapman revealed a shocking insight into West Brom’s current promotion chasing season, linking back to the 2008 campaign when the Baggies secured a return to the Premier League under Tony Mowbray.

In a tweet on X, Chapman said: “Albion have three points more this season, at this stage, than they did the year they won the league in 2008.

“This year, they're 16 points off the pace.

“Leeds and Leicester already have more points than Albion's 46-game total, crazy league this year.”

Albion in 2008 won the Championship title with 81 points, recording 23 victories, 12 draws and 11 defeats from those 46 league outings.

So far this season, Leeds United and Leicester City have only been beaten six and seven times respectively, boasting such a high level of quality in their squads and maintaining a superb level of consistency to put themselves in such a promising position.

How West Brom have fared against the top sides in the division

Despite the top four Championship sides opening up a significant points gap above West Brom, the Baggies have managed to hold their own in most of the second tier clashes.

Corberan’s men were beaten on both occasions by Southampton but ran the Saints close at St Mary’s back in November, with Adam Armstrong needing to score a 79th minute winner.

The Baggies went unbeaten in both their meetings with Ipswich Town, recording a 2-0 win over the Tractor Boys at The Hawthorns in late November before being involved in a pulsating 2-2 draw in Norfolk, as Omari Hutchinson broke Albion hearts with an injury-time equaliser last month.

West Brom pushed Leicester all the way in their only affair but suffered more injury-time heartache when Harry Winks cancelled out Josh Maja’s late equaliser. Albion are due to meet with the Foxes in the East Midlands on the 20th April.

Table-topping Leeds only managed to get one point out of their two matches against Corberan’s outfit, succumbing to a 1-0 defeat at The Hawthorns while West Brom earned a creditable 1-1 draw at Elland Road at the beginning of the season.

It’s no surprise to see such high point totals being set by the teams coming down to the Championship, with the financial power of being in the Premier League for multiple seasons at an all-time high.

For Southampton and Leicester’s cases, they had multiple first-team players who could generate a lot of money to fund a transfer window, with the Foxes able to sell the likes of James Maddison, Harvey Barnes and Timothy Castagne for high-figure fees, while the Saints waved goodbye to James Ward-Prowse, Romeo Lavia and Tino Livramento to some of the Premier League heavyweights.

as the other two clubs, but still had the financial presence to recruit shrewdly, which is something West Brom haven’t been able to use with limited funds available.

With the money floating around in the modern day, future teams that get relegated from the Premier League should expect to return to the top flight within two seasons, barring any major errors in recruitment or with coaches.

West Brom have failed to take that chance and have now run out of parachute payments provided by the Premier League to boost themselves financially. However, with Shilen Patel now at the helm in B71, there is hope funding will come into the club to keep them competitive in the second tier.

Corberan has worked wonders already at improving the West Brom squad on such a restricted budget, and you wouldn’t rule out the Spaniard achieving what was thought to be unthinkable in West Brom fans’ minds at the start of this term.