With the World Cup carving a large break in the domestic football season, it’s a chance for club managers and staff to have some downtime and assess how they can tackle the second half of the campaign.
Whilst Arsenal have sprung a surprise by leading the Premier League table after 14 games, there have been some interesting goings-on across the continent, too, with Europe’s top leagues seeing plenty of entertaining action in the early stages of the season.
Let’s take a look at each major European league to see how things are shaping up as we break for the World Cup in Qatar.
Premier League
The 2022/23 Premier League has seen Mikel Arteta’s men lead the table after 14 matches.
Manchester City are just five points behind the Gunners with the same number of matches played.
However, the surprise package this season has been Newcastle United. The Magpies currently sit third with 30 points in 15 matches.
Graham Potter’s Chelsea are eighth on the EPL table, while Nottingham Forest, Wolves, and Southampton make up the three relegation spots respectively.
La Liga
It’s been a classic ding-dong between Real Madrid and Barcelona in La Liga so far this season, and it’s the latter who have pipped their arch-rivals to the top spot ahead of the World Cup-enforced break.
Real Madrid’s win in El Clasico earlier this season had given them the edge, but a defeat to Rayo Vallecano allowed Barca to swoop back to the summit.
At the other end of the table, Sevilla have had a shocking start to the season and find themselves in the relegation zone, with only Cadiz and Elche propping them up.
Serie A
Although the Serie A title has been passed between the Milan clubs for the past two seasons, it’s Napoli who are making waves in the 2022-23 campaign.
Napoli are one of the few European teams that are still unbeaten in the 2022/23 season in their League.
After the departures of Dries Mertens, Kalidou Koulibaly, and Lorenzo Insigne, Luciano Spalletti’s side have been a breath of fresh air and sit eight points clear at the top of the table, having won 13 and drawn two of their 15 matches so far.
It’s been a tale of inconsistency for the other top Italian clubs, with AC Milan, Inter Milan, and Juventus struggling to match Napoli’s impressive form.
At the other end of the league, Cremonese, Sampdoria, and Hellas Verona make up the bottom three.
Bundesliga
It will come as no surprise that Bayern Munich, favourites in the football odds today, sit top of the Bundesliga at this stage of the season.
However, the Bavarians have not had it all their way, with unlikely challengers coming forward in the shape of Union Berlin and Freiburg.
You’d expect Julian Nagelsmann’s men to pull away come the second part of the season, though.
Down at the bottom, it’s been a dismal start for Schalke, who are back in the top flight after a season in the second tier. They are at the foot of the table, with Bochum and Stuttgart also in the bottom three.
Ligue 1
As expected, Paris Saint-Germain have made a flying start to their Ligue 1 campaign and have won 13 and drawn 2 of their 15 league matches so far.
You’d think they’d be further clear with such a fine record, but surprise package Lens have been doing their utmost to keep up, sitting five points behind after a stellar start to the campaign.
Rennes and Marseille complete the top four for now.
The relegation zone is currently made up of Auxerre, Ajaccio, Strasbourg, and Angers, and the battle will be on in the new year to make up ground on the teams higher up.
