background-position:top coordinate of an inline element (with vertical-align:top) is incorrectly calculated when its sibling is an IMG element (with greater line-box height)

Variables

Variables that determine what (incorrect) coordinate is used for vertical position (0%) include, height of IMG element, height of background image and font-size.

Live Example

Every Browser Is Rendering Background At Right Place Except Internet Explorer 8

Expected Behaviour

There should be no vertical white space between the thin blue border (illustrating top edge of each A element, to which a background image is applied) and the thick black line, illustrating the top edge of the background image.

Actual Results

In IE8 RTW, there is some noticeable white space between the thin blue border and the thick black line.