How long will the title race remain tight race in England, Germany, and Spain?
As it stands in the Premier League, the Bundesliga, and in the La Liga, there are at least 20% of the league that is looking ambitious this season.
It is a 3-way tie at the top of the English Premier League with Manchester City, Chelsea, and Liverpool unbeaten at the top of the standings with 20 points each after 8 matches. A 6-match winning streak in the league has Arsenal right in place and 2 points away from the top of the league, while Tottenham remains a title contender despite unexpected defeat to Watford.
In the German Bundesliga, Bayern Munich is nowhere to be found at their traditional spot on the league table. After successive league defeats, Bayern has fallen down to 6th in the league, leaving room from a competitive race to the title. Thanks to their ‘4-1’ victory over RB Leipzig(August 26, 2018), Borussia Dortmund is 3 points clear at the top of the league with Leipzig in second place tie with Borussia Monchengladbach, Werder Bremen, and Hertha Berlin. A victory over newly promoted Fortuna Dusseldorf might what Eintracht Frankfurt need to get in the early title race.
After 8 rounds into the season, there are at last 8 teams that are in the La Liga title race.
Sevilla is in pole position in the La Liga after taking advantage of the pre-tournament favorite’s inability to secure maximum points from their recent four matches. Defending champions FC Barcelona has gone four league matches without a victory (3 draws and a loss), while Real Madrid is three league matches without a victory (2 loses and a draw).
Bayern Munich 4 points from the top in the Bundesliga
Bayern Munich is on a streak of winless matches that includes consecutive league defeats that has them fallen from a Champions League place in the league to 6th. To avoid making it a difficult task of getting back to their ‘rightful’ position in the league, Bayern would need to make sure they extract the maximum points from their next league fixture (which is away against Wolfsburg on Saturday, October, 20)
Barcelona vs Sevilla (La Liga)
After 4 winless games that included a shocking defeat to Leganes, Barcelona has ‘maxed’ out on the ‘dropped points’ allowed by fans at this point. Only a home victory against Sevilla would be seen as a positive result. The top of the league table is on the line for these two sides. A draw will leave both sides open to drop down in their league ranking
Lille start in the French Ligue 1.
We are still figuring out if Lille is having a great season, or that the best teams in the league are under-performing, or the fixtures at the start of the season is benefiting Lille? Basically, we all want to know if this going to be like the 2011 Lille by the end of the season?
Lille is just 4 points away from equaling their total points accumulated from last season.
The 2017/18 Ligue 1 season ended with Lille ended Lille right above the relegation zone at 17th place with 38 points coming from 10 wins, 8 draws, and 20 defeats. After just 9 matches into the new season, Lille has 6 wins, a draw, and 2 defeats, Lille is holding the second best record in the Ligue 1.
Manchester United visit to Chelsea
A Chelsea and Manchester United is an exciting fixture if it wasn’t carrying valuable points for both teams. A Manchester United win would cut the gap between the two sides to four points.
Can Manchester United and Jose Mourinho get positive results at Stamford Bridge against a Chelsea side that remain unbeaten since the start of the season?
Apart from the points dropped in a draw against West Ham United (a team that has beaten Manchester United) and Liverpool, Chelsea has been perfect in all competitions since the beginning of the 2018/19 Premier League season. With this form and having the support of the home crowd, it is highly improbable to see Chelsea failing to get the right result at home against a Manchester United side that has found it difficult to get the ideal results from their recent matches. Manchester United will be coming to this match on a high from their ‘3-2’ comeback victory against Newcastle United. Despite the dramatic win, Newcastle United is a side stuck in the relegation zone after being winless in the season. Trailing to Newcastle United at home indicates weakness for Manchester United but coming back with just 20 minutes left of regulation time shows their resilience that could possibly be the needed boost to the team morale.
Apart from remaining unbeaten, Chelsea wouldn’t want to fall out of the 3-way tie at the top of the league.
A Manchester United defeat will put them 10 points behind Chelsea, as well as being at a high risk of falling 10 points behind Manchester City and Liverpool by the end of the day.
