Best Teams in Each of Europe’s Top 5 Leagues since the World Cup

Erik ten Hag’s Red Devils have turned a corner since the World Cup, with their form giving them an outside chance in the title race, with them placed just three points behind Manchester City, and five points behind league leaders Arsenal.

Since the World Cup, ten Hag’s team has played ten games, winning seven, drawing two and losing only once, which came away to Arsenal, and to go along with gaining the most points since the World Cup, they are also the top scorers in this period, scoring 21 goals, with a lot of the contribution coming from the in-form man in Europe, Marcus Rashford.

In his ten Premier League games since the World Cup, Rashford has managed ten goals and one assist, scoring in all but one game, with his goals also coming at important times for his team, with six of his ten goals being goals that put his team into the lead.

Borussia Dortmund have been perfect in all competitions since the World Cup, let alone the Bundesliga, which is surprising considering they were very inconsistent before the World Cup, losing back-to-back games against Wolfsburg and Borussia Monchengladbach, which left them 6th in the table, but with six straight wins, they are now joint top alongside Bayern Munich and Union Berlin.

The attack of Dortmund have been unstoppable since the restart, scoring 19 goals in six games, five more than the next-best team, with them scoring 4+ goals in three of their six games and it has been a joint effort with their top scorer in this period being Julian Brandt, Gio Reyna and Karim Adeyemi all with three goals each.

This year might be the best year for Dortmund to stop Bayern’s ten-year reign of terror on the Bundesliga, especially with the two teams in completely different form since the World Cup, with Dortmund in their best form in a few years, whilst Bayern are really struggling, only picking up nine points from their six games.

One of the many questions around European football during the World Cup was whether Napoli could carry on their very impressive form and after a loss to Inter Milan in their first game back, there were some doubters to their form, but despite their loss at the San Siro, they are still the most in-form team in the league.

After their 1-0 loss to Inter, Napoli have played seven games in Serie A, and have won all seven, scoring 19 goals and conceding only twice, keeping five clean sheets, with one of their games including a very special 5-1 victory over Juventus, which has extended their lead in the Serie A to 15 points, putting them on course for their first Serie A title since 1989/90.

The attacking duo of Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Victor Osimhen have gone to another level in 2023, with Kvaratskhelia managing four goals and four assists in six Serie A games in 2023, whilst Osimhen scored nine goals and assisted once in eight games.

Like Napoli, Xavi’s Barcelona had a massive question mark on whether they could carry on their amazing pre-World Cup form and mount a proper challenge for the La Liga title, but since the World Cup, they have been just as good, if not better.

In Barcelona’s eight La Liga games since the World Cup, they are yet to lose a game, the only La Liga side to do so, with them winning seven and drawing once, picking up five more points than the next best team, Atletico Madrid.

What could be more impressive about their form is that their goalscoring form has seen a massive drop-off in their last eight games, averaging 1.5 goals per game, compared to an average of 2.4 in their previous 14 games, with their defence carrying them in some games, conceding just twice in eight games, keeping a very impressive six clean sheets.

With PSG really faltering since the World Cup, picking up 16 points in nine games, AS Monaco are doing their best to try and mount a title challenge in Ligue 1 and with their form since the World Cup, they have massively closed their gap to PSG, with it shrinking from 14 points to now just seven.

In their nine games since the World Cup, Monaco have won seven and draw two, which included a massive 3-1 victory at home over PSG to show their intention for the second half of the season.

Monaco have both improved in attack and defensively, averaging 2.7 goals a game since the World Cup, compared to 1.9 before and now are conceding on average 1.1 goals per game, compared to 1.4 before.

Their attacking form has been mainly because of a hot streak from Wissam Ben Yedder, who scored six league goals in 13 before the World Cup, but since has scored eight in seven since the restart

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