Patrick Bamford has won two big Leeds United battles already and deserves to finish the job - Graham Smyth

The first-choice striker for Marcelo Bielsa, the man who has carried the responsibilities and pressure of the lone frontman role for the Whites all season, had already seen off one challenger for his throne by the time Augustin stepped off a private jet.

Eddie Nketiah was the other man in the never-ending debate about who should start up top, or how many should start up top, in the first half of the season.

He threw down the gauntlet for Bamford with goalscoring cameos and a ruthless finishing ability that, if it were in Bamford’s arsenal, would just about make him the complete forward.

Yet Nketiah’s own armoury was lacking key weapons that Bielsa needed in the Championship fight.

Bamford had to watch and listen each week as his head coach was pressed again and again on the issue of striker selection, then go out and try to quell the debate with his performances and goals.

At times, he managed it. Other times, it looked like a losing battle.

At one stage, in November, Nketiah was primed and ready to be unleashed on QPR before a freak injury took him out of the equation and, ultimately, ended the scrap between him and Bamford.

Six goals in the next eight games cemented Bamford’s place and by the time Nketiah started, at West Brom, the minds of the loanee and parent club Arsenal were made up.

He withdrew from the battle, went back to the Emirates and Bamford was the last man standing, for a couple of weeks at least.

Swaggering into the fray came the next challenger, the exciting, expensive, highly-rated Augustin.

Bets were placed on the goalscoring exploits many felt sure would come from the Frenchman and yet a combination of the adaptation period a player requires to get into a Bielsa side and injury have left him limping from the battlefield before he ever really engaged.

It appears highly unlikely that the 23-year-old will add to his 48 minutes of Championship action this season.

Bamford witnessed the hype that accompanied his new rival, the buzz that met news of his return to full training and the disappointment and frustration of the club’s fans that followed revelations of fresh injury concerns.

All the while, all season, Bamford has had to be content with his own belief and the backing of his head coach, who says he is good enough, who tells him he is the right man to lead the Leeds line.

Although Tyler Roberts has emerged as a potential new threat to the position, with goals against Hull City and a rip-roaring return to training, it would come as a huge surprise if Bamford was absent from the starting line-up this weekend.

Now is not a time for sentiment, it is a time for ruthlessness and Bielsa will pick players on their present suitability, but it would still be harsh in the extreme on Bamford were he to miss out on the chance to finish what he has started.

Putting wastefulness aside – we’ve done it to death, he’s admitted it as a flaw – he has played a huge part in putting Leeds top of the Championship.

His 13 goals include winners against Bristol City and Wigan away, and Middlesbrough and Millwall at home.

His build-up play, hold-up play and commitment to the press have helped win many others. Bamford, with the help of his team-mates, has got Leeds this far and if he gets the nod from Bielsa for the remaining fixtures, it’ on merit.

You do not get to play for Bielsa by default, you earn the right and Bamford has.

And unless Cardiff City come up with some dastardly plan to pipe groans of despair through the stadium PA system if he misses a chance, it might not be as tense an experience, playing up front for Leeds, as it would be were stadiums full.

Goals might flow.

On the other hand, players and Bielsa say that the real pressure comes from within, and that pressure is a constant, empty stands or not.

So while everything has changed, for all of us, maybe when Bamford sets off on his first sprint of Sunday’s game, nothing will have changed.

Leeds will still need goals but will still need Bamford to do the very things he’s done all season, things we’re still not even sure Augustin could have done.

We know, he knows and most importantly of all, Bielsa knows Bamford can.