With the European football season halfway over, it is time to make some predictions for the how the top five spots in the English Premier League, the Spanish LALIGA, and the German Bundesliga will end up.
Premier League:
- Manchester City
- Liverpool
- Arsenal
- Aston Villa
- Tottenham
Currently, Liverpool sits two points clear at the top of the table, with Manchester City and Aston Villa tied for second place. Arsenal and Tottenham are only 3 points behind the two teams behind second place, meaning that there is a 5-way race for the Premier League crown. Each of the teams in the top five play each other an additional time before the end of the season. This means that each team has its own fate in its hands. With that being said, I am predicting that Manchester City will win the league. They have been able to keep second place with key injuries like Kevin De Bruyne, Erling Haaland, and John Stones. De Bruyne has returned in some capacity from injury, scoring the equalizer and assisting on the winning goal against Newcastle United on January 13. Haaland should be back in February, and Stones has no time table yet for his return. Once City is back in full form, I don’t think that any team in the Premier League will be able to stand up to them.
LALIGA
- Real Madrid
- Girona
- Barcelona
- Athletic Club
- Atlético Madrid
Real Madrid and Girona have been almost unstoppable this season, suffering only one loss each. Girona currently sit in the top position, but they are only one point ahead of Real Madrid. Real Madrid also have a game in hand. Barcelona have been incredibly inconsistent from one game to the next, so it is unlikely that they can start stringing together a long series of wins to try and catch the top two teams. Athletic Club and Atlético Madrid are in similar spots as Barcelona, except they were not expected to be league winners this season. I believe that Real Madrid will be champions this season. They have incredibly talented players like Jude Bellingham. There have also been rumors that Kylian Mbappéwill sign with the team in the mid-season transfer window. I think that if Real Madrid keeps their current form for the remainder of the season, they will be lifting the trophy in no time.
Bundesliga
- Bayern Munich
- Bayer Leverkusen
- RB Leipzig
- Borussia Dortmund
- Eintracht Frankfurt
This season has been an entertaining race between Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern Munich. Bayern Munich is the ten-straight defending champion of the Bundesliga. Bayern Leverkusen are the last undefeated team in the top five European leagues. They have had a historic season thus far. The title race is essentially only between these two teams because the point difference is very large between second and third place. Bayern Munich and Bayern Leverkusen has already met once, a 2-2 draw back in September. That means that if both sides keep winning, whoever wins their second match will become champions. RB Leipzig and Eintracht Frankfurt have had fantastic seasons so far, while Borussia Dortmund has had a relative down year. Leipzig has had fewer injuries to deal with compared to Dortmund and Frankfurt, so that is why I am projecting them to finish third, forth, and fifth respectively. The current third place team, VfB Stuttgart, has a difficult second half of the season ahead of them, along with significant injuries to their core. That is why I am projecting that they fall out of the top five. I am going to say that Bayern Munich will win the league. They have better depth to survive injuries, star players to carry them through games like Harry Kane and Leroy Sané, and they have a history of coming up late in the season to defend their title.
