A Look At European Soccer (EPL & Bundesliga)

With soccer having returned all across Europe last week following the season’s second international break, I thought it would be a good time to examine what’s going on in the “Big 4” leagues.

Here I’ll look at the English Premier League as well as the German Bundesliga

EPL - Many expected Liverpool to take a step back after last year’s historic campaign. Yet there the Reds are, tied with Tottenham Hotspur at the top of the table (21 points). Thus far, we’ve seen a revolving door of contenders in the Premier League with clubs like Everton, Southampton and Aston Villa spending time on top. All three of those sides have fallen off the pace a bit and now currently sit 8th, 6th and 10th respectively. For my money, Tottenham and Chelsea have been the two best sides. Right behind Chelsea is Leicester City in the 4th spot, but they just suffered a terrible loss to Fulham, one of the four clubs that will spend most of the year fighting to avoid relegation (West Brom, Burnley & Sheffield United are the others). Manchester City and Manchester United being middle of the table teams is surprising.

Bundesliga - Any discussion of this league must start with Bayern Munich, the best side in all of Europe. Not surprisingly, they are at the top of the table with 22 points. They have scored 31 times in nine matches. Besides Bayern, there are six other sides that have separated themselves from the rest of the pack in Germany’s top flight. Neither Bayer Leverkusen and Wolfsburg have a loss on their resumes, which is something that even Bayern can’t claim. Yet the two undefeated sides still rank just third and fifth in the table due to an abundance of draws. RP Leipzig and Dortmund were both expected to finish in the top four and that’s where both currently are. They each have a +12 goal differential. Only Bayern is better in that metric. Don’t discount Union Berlin (+10 goal differential) or Gladbach either. The bottom of this league is pretty bad, particularly Schalke, who is still winless in its last 25 Bundesliga matches.