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Title races, European spots, relegation and pride: the stories to look out for in top five leagues

MUNICH, GERMANY - APRIL 23: Jude Bellingham of Borussia Dortmund jumps for a header with Leon Goretzka of FC Bayern Muenchen during the Bundesliga match between FC Bayern München and Borussia Dortmund at Allianz Arena on April 23, 2022 in Munich, Germany. (Photo by Boris Streubel/Getty Images)
By The Athletic UK Staff
1h ago
Napoli look nailed-on champions, while Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain are well on the way, but in England and Germany it’s all to play for at the top of the table.

And, of course, the title is not the only thing at stake as we canter towards the end of the 2022-23 season. There are European spots up for grabs, what could be vital prize money for higher league finishes and the looming spectre of relegation.

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It’s hard to keep track of what’s going on in your favourite league — let alone five at once.

So, fear not, our writers are on hand to tee up the run-ins to Europe’s five biggest domestic leagues, and the key plotlines to look out for in the final months…

Premier League

A unique Premier League season restarts this weekend. Postponed after the death of Queen Elizabeth II, then paused for the World Cup, now two intense months remain to find out whether a new champion will be crowned, or if we’ve all been rope-a-doped.

Nobody could begrudge Arsenal. So beautiful, almost perfect. Most observers — including Arsenal fans — anticipated the wheels to fall off, but wins were unremitting and now, eight points clear at the top of the table, glory appears inevitable. Does a twist loom?

Perhaps it does in Arsenal’s April fixture list: away to Liverpool, home to Chelsea and away to Manchester City, the reigning champions who are far beyond the chasing pack, but far behind Arsenal. Refashioned as an Erling Haaland vehicle, perhaps their eyes are elsewhere.

On the other side of Manchester, the wonderful madness — for observers — that is United, at least until Erik ten Hag substituted Cristiano Ronaldo with discipline and team spirit (Anfield excepted). Now they occupy a Champions League spot but could be leapfrogged by newly resilient, newly rich Newcastle when the two meet at St James’ Park on Sunday.

Tottenham: world-class striker, world-class stadium, fourth place in the table, but engulfed in chaos. Their manager Antonio Conte left during the international break and Fabio Paratici, the man in charge of appointing his successor, has been banned by FIFA. So it’s popcorn time again in north London. Biting at their heels are the aforementioned Geordies, Liverpool (remember them?), Brighton and Brentford; we may be on the cusp of a new era of champions, but also of European representatives.

Chelsea, previously Champions League establishment, spent so much and spread it so creatively, but with such poor outcomes. Scroll down, down, down the table to find them 10th, alongside Fulham and Aston Villa, and above nervy Crystal Palace and steadied Wolverhampton Wanderers.


Then down to the disruptor clubs of previous seasons: West Ham and Leicester; the former in a relegation spot, the latter one point above them — and one point above them, Everton. A slip in a Premier League match can be costly, as can a slip in off-field decisions. West Ham are away at Leicester on the final day of the season. A relegation decider?

To the bottom, rock-bottom for Southampton. So much promise, so much admiration, but a wall has been hit. Their fellow south-coast strugglers Bournemouth are showing more fight, dragging famous recent Premier League returnees toward the drop zone: Leeds United, Nottingham Forest. History provides no protection but does provide stories. Several may be written this season.

The one game you can’t afford to miss? Manchester City vs Arsenal on April 26

Andrew Hankinson

Bundesliga

Remarkably, every game still matters in the Bundesliga.

With the exception of Borussia Monchengladbach and Werder Bremen, who sit comfortably in 10th and 11th respectively, everybody still has something to play for. Or something to fear.

Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich continue their duel for the title on Saturday but, behind them, Union Berlin and Freiburg still occupy the box seats for Champions League qualification. Given the comparative financial heft of those chasing them — RB Leipzig, Bayer Leverkusen, Wolfsburg — holding on to those positions would be a remarkable achievement in each case.

Union have taken the more circuitous journey to this point, but Freiburg have never played at that level either. Head coach Christian Streich has led his side to eighth-, 10th- and sixth-placed finishes in the last three seasons and has done so on a playing budget which, last year, was around half of Hoffenheim’s, let alone the truly big beasts.


Down in the basement, everyone’s nervous. From Augsburg (12th) and below, every team is at risk of relegation. In Germany, the bottom two go down automatically, while the side finishing 16th must play-off against the third-placed team from the division below.

Schalke’s revival has been the story. They were dead and buried before the World Cup, looking truly helpless, and even when the season resumed there was little suggestion of any burgeoning resilience in a 6-1 thumping by RB Leipzig.

But they haven’t lost any of the eight games since. Good defensive recruitment in January has helped; so too has the work of coach Thomas Reis. He was actually sacked by Bochum — themselves mired in trouble — earlier in the season, so that’s an intriguing plotline.

Elsewhere, the struggles (and melodrama) of big-city club Hertha Berlin continue, and Stuttgart and Hoffenheim are also enduring desperately poor seasons that may well end in the 2. Bundesliga.

The one game you can’t afford to miss? Bayern Munich vs Borussia Dortmund on Saturday

Seb Stafford-Bloor

Serie A

It’s no longer a matter of if but when Napoli win the Scudetto. The question is: how soon? They have a chance to match or break the record set by the Grande Torino in 1948. The immortal Granata won the league by a 16-point margin with six games to spare.

April is going to be intense, particularly with so many teams from Serie A featuring in the latter stages of European competition. Juventus, Inter and Fiorentina are stretched across three fronts — there are Coppa Italia semi-finals next week — and that should make a congested race for the top four very interesting. Lazio now have nothing else to focus on but the league and are so sound defensively it’s hard to envision them dropping out of the Champions League places.


The other variable is the fate of Juventus’ appeal against the 15-point penalty. Win it on April 19 and they’ll likely leapfrog everyone into second place. Elsewhere, Fiorentina have a great chance of reaching a Coppa Italia final and emulating Roma in lifting the second edition of the Conference League.

Serie A has a series of compelling mini-leagues within the league so I’m curious who comes out on top in the one from eighth to 13th as it could decide which coach gets the next big vacancy. Udinese were the revelation early on this season under Andrea Sottil and have rediscovered their form. Thiago Motta has quietly got Bologna playing to their potential.

Then there’s Raffaele Palladino, probably the break-out coaching star of this campaign who has done an excellent job since stepping in for Giovanni Stroppa at Monza although the highest net spend in the division has undoubtedly helped.

Down the bottom, Verona, Sampdoria and Cremonese all look doomed. Spezia’s decision to bin off Luca Gotti for Leonardo Semplici brought an unexpected win over Inter and had the double effect of crushing morale among those already adrift in the relegation zone.

The one game you can’t afford to miss? Napoli vs Milan on Sunday

James Horncastle

Ligue 1

Unsurprisingly, the title looks assured for PSG in Ligue 1.

Opta have given the Parisians a 99 per cent chance of wrapping up a record 11th league crown, but it is not quite done and dusted yet, even with a seven-point lead. Christophe Galtier’s side have swapped a 21-match unbeaten run for four defeats in 13 league games since the World Cup and their recent wobbles have added a surprise question mark. Their upcoming fixtures against Lyon, Nice and Lens will likely decide if there’s any chance of the door opening to would-be challengers, though that does feel outlandish. Off-field matters, including the futures of Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi and Sergio Ramos, are set to take much of the focus in the coming weeks.


The only other real certainty in the league seems to be that Angers will go down, stuck rock bottom with 10 points and managerless once again. The rest of the relegation battle is open, with five teams fighting to steer clear of four relegation spots — a change as Ligue 1 moves from 20 teams to 18 next year. Five points separate 19th-placed Ajaccio and Strasbourg in 15th, who had much higher hopes for this season. There are some big clashes still to come, starting with Auxerre vs Troyes this weekend (17th vs 18th), so expect twists and turns.

The battle for Europe is very much alive.

Marseille lead the way under Igor Tudor, two points ahead of the impressive RC Lens. Franck Haise is doing a marvellous job by improving on last year’s seventh-placed finish, despite losing key players last summer. They do have a tough run-in though, with six top-half teams still to play. Monaco have their eye on that third Champions League qualification spot, while Rennes, Lille and Nice — the latter revitalised by one-time Middlesbrough player and now coach Didier Digard — look set to carve out the remaining European spots between them. Sixth place will not carry a European spot this year, as the last four of the Coupe de France all reside outside the top five.

The final thing to mention, of course, is Will Still. The 30-year-old coach has lifted Reims from early relegation fears to comfortably top half, powered by Arsenal loanee Folarin Balogun (his 17 goals is only bettered by Kylian Mbappe and Jonathan David, 19 each). His remarkable unbeaten start — 18 games in the league — came to an end at Marseille last week, but considering their form, you can’t write off a few more surprises before the season is out.

The one game you can’t afford to miss? Lens vs Marseille on May 7

Peter Rutzler

La Liga

La Liga returns this weekend with Barcelona 12 points clear in the title race, but there is plenty still up for grabs up and down the table.

Real Madrid have had the international break to get over their recent Clasico defeat at the Camp Nou, and Carlo Ancelotti’s side’s main focus now is preparing for their looming Champions League quarter-final against Chelsea.

Atletico Madrid’s upswing in form ever since Joao Felix joined Chelsea means they look to have automatic qualification for next year’s Champions League sorted — but Diego Simeone’s team still have to play the other top-four challengers: Real Sociedad, Real Betis and Villarreal.

Things are a lot less clear at the bottom, where just six points currently separate 11th-placed Mallorca from Almeria in 19th. Surprise strugglers Sevilla and Valencia are both on their third coach of the season already, and in real danger of going down. The two sides meet at Mestalla in two weeks’ time — right in the middle of Sevilla’s two-legged Europa League quarter-final with Manchester United. Adding to the spice will be fans’ protests against Valencia owner Peter Lim. Those are getting angrier by the week.


Next Wednesday brings the final Clasico of the season. Madrid travel to the Camp Nou for the second leg of the Copa del Rey semi-final, with an injury-hit Barca 1-0 up from the first leg.

Other upcoming fixtures to look out for include Barca hosting Atletico Madrid on April 22 or 23, a few days before Atletico celebrate their 120th birthday at home to Mallorca.

The Sevilla v Betis city derby in late May could also be a cracker given both teams’ situations. Barca fans of course will want to sew up the title as soon as possible, but many might quite like to win the trophy on May 14, when they play away to their city neighbours Espanyol.

The one game you can’t afford to miss? Barcelona vs Atletico Madrid on April 22/23

Dermot Corrigan

(Photo: Boris Streubel/Getty Images)

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I wanna go to where the martyrs went
the brown figures on the walls of my apart-a-ment...