West Ham's 26th match of last season was a 2-0 defeat to Manchester City that saw David Moyes' men remain in the Premier League relegation zone in 18th spot.
Twelve months on and West Ham's 26th game of the season was a 2-1 loss to Manchester City, however, this year a defeat at the Etihad Stadium was cushioned by the fact the Hammers remained in fourth spot for a second consecutive week.
In a bizarre quirk of the fixture list Liverpool, Chelsea, Everton and Tottenham all play twice before West Ham take on Leeds United on Monday night meaning the Hammers could go into the clash down in eighth place.
No matter what league position Moyes' team start the game in the current season has so far been an unparalleled success, and the Leeds manager Marcelo Bielsa has given his thoughts on what has made West Ham so strong this campaign.
"A secret or something special I don’t observe. They’ve been able to maintain a stable partnership in midfield. Two players who are very important," Bielsa said, referring to Tomas Soucek and Declan Rice, who have played every minute of league football this season for the Hammers.
In fact, the duo have gone 35 straight league games alongside each other with no break, a remarkable feat given the sheer number of games and the short gap between seasons.
As well as a settled midfield partnership Bielsa suggested West Ham's strength in depth was another reason for their impressive season.
"For each of the attacking roles, they have two players. Especially with the two wingers and offensive midfielders," he said.
The Argentine was also full of praise for Aaron Cresswell's set-piece delivery and the way Moyes has been able to cope with the loss of Arthur Masuaku for the majority of the season so far.
“The four full-backs that they possess are important players and they’ve resolved the absence of Masuaku. The centre-backs, not only have they been strong at the back but they have contributed goals in attack.
"They have a very good set-piece taker with his left foot [Cresswell] and the manager has been able to obtain some very good minutes of football with that team."
Despite recent injuries to Angelo Ogbonna and Lukasz Fabianski, and earlier in the season Michail Antonio, Moyes has been able to select a relatively settled team.
Cresswell has also played every minute of the season, Jarrod Bowen has been involved in all 26 league games and six other Hammers have played more than 1,000 minutes of league football this campaign.
In comparison, Leeds have also had four men involved in every game this season (Stuart Dallas, Mateusz Klich, Patrick Bamford and Luke Ayling). None, however, have matched Cresswell, Rice and Soucek as an ever-present and at times this season injury issues have struck Bielsa's team.
Throughout the season Bielsa has been forced to rejig his backline to deal with persistent absences from the heart of his defence. Currently, the Whites boss is without three key-players ahead of the trip to the London Stadium.
Robin Koch, Rodrigo and Kalvin Phillips are all on the sidelines with injury and it is the loss of Phillips that has most affected Leeds' form.
Of the eight matches Phillips has missed this season Leeds have lost six and won two, conceding 15 goals in the defensive midfielder's absence.
It is believed that Phillips has returned to training and will be assessed ahead of the trip to London, however, after a month out of the team Phillips is unlikely to be handed a start opposite his England rival Rice in the centre of the park.
Moyes will be giving his own press conference on Friday afternoon ahead of the match on Monday and his thoughts will be available live on the football.london West Ham page.
