Comparing the competitiveness of Europe's top 5 Leagues after half a season
We are past the half way stage in all the top five leagues across Europe and at this stage the battle for the title, the European spots and the fight for the right to stay in the top tier is heating up. Favourites for the title, for European qualification and for the drop are already clear in almost all the leagues.So here is a statistical comparison of the top 5 leagues in Europe, namely, Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Ligue 1 and Serie A to find out which is the most competitive one amongst the lot.For uniformity we are making the comparison using the league table at the halfway stage in these leagues.
#1 Points difference between the top teams
Premier League: Just like it is today, Chelsea and Manchester City led the title race at the halfway stage. Manchester City trailed their rivals by just three points at the halfway stage. While the third placed team at that stage, Manchester United, were a further seven points behind Manchester City.
La Liga: Real Madrid led the table by 48 points after 19 games followed by arch rivals Barcelona with 44 points. Last season’s champions Atletico Madrid trailed the leaders by 7 points.
Bundesliga: Bayern Munich led the table at the halfway stage with 45 points out of a maximum of 51. They led second placed Wolfsburg by a massive 11 points. Wolfsburg also had a significant lead of six points over third placed Bayer Leverkusen.
Ligue 1: The Ligue 1 table was interesting at the halfway stage. Marseille led the table by two points ahead of Lyonnais, while defending champions PSG trailed the leaders by just 3 points. Marseille had 41 points at the halfway stage.
Serie A: Serie A table was not as lopsided as it usually was over the past few years, but Juventus led the table as expected with 46 points and their closest competitor was AS Roma who were 5 points behind the leaders. Roma held a significant lead of 8 points over third placed Napoli.
Verdict: With 3 points separating the first three teams, Ligue 1 looks like the most competitive league at the top end of the table at the halfway stage of the season.