Championship at halfway: West Brom soaring with Leeds in close company

Threatening to runaway with things are West Brom and Leeds. This time last season nine points separated the top six but Slaven Bilic’s free-scoring Albion – only Manchester City have more league goals across England’s top five tiers – have established considerably more breathing space at the summit. Bilic has made his first taste of managing in the so-called madhouse look easy, so much so that his side have soared to the 50-point mark without appearing to work up too much of a sweat, and the sense is there is plenty of oomph to come.

West Brom are eight points better off than they were last campaign while Leeds are only a point worse off. Not that they should be worried, with Ben White’s form in the division’s best defence and the stealth of Kalvin Phillips major boons. Leeds could be forgiven for not getting too giddy – they imploded towards the end of last season and this month had to settle for a point after leading a 10-man Cardiff by three goals at Elland Road. Whether Marcelo Bielsa’s stubbornness over Eddie Nketiah comes back to bite remains to be seen; the Arsenal striker is yet to start a league match since joining on loan in August.

Play-off chasers

Beneath the top two things are splendidly congested between a flurry of teams with clear imperfections, with seven points separating third-placed Sheffield Wednesday and Queens Park Rangers in 14th. For Wednesday, who