Read side by side, Europe’s five major league tables tell five different stories and one common one: fast starts. Barcelona have won seven of seven in La Liga. Manchester City have won five of five in the Premier League. Borussia Dortmund have won four of four in the Bundesliga. Even where nobody is perfect, the leaders are clear.
In Germany, Dortmund lead with twelve points from four rounds and a goal difference of +7. Bayern Munich and SC Freiburg are on ten, with Bayern’s +12 the best goal difference in the league (table as of 6 October). At the bottom, Borussia Mönchengladbach have no points after four rounds, Union Berlin one and Hamburger SV three.
In France, Monaco lead on thirteen points from five rounds, with Lyon and Paris FC on eleven and Lille and Rennes on ten (as of 3 October). The most striking line is further down: Paris Saint-Germain are sixth on eight points, with two wins, two draws and one defeat. The same club beat Slovan Bratislava 6–1 in Europe. Paris are the clearest example this season of a squad whose two competitions are moving at different speeds.
In England, Manchester City lead with fifteen points and Arsenal have twelve. In Italy, Roma, Inter and Lazio share the top on thirteen. In Spain, Barcelona are alone on twenty-one. Each of those tables has a leader that is playing as expected and a chasing pack that has already begun to lose margin.
A word of caution belongs in every early-season column: four or five rounds is roughly one-eighth of a league season. Early tables are noisy, and clubs that start well often fall back while clubs that start slowly recover. The useful reading is not who leads, but who leads by conviction — and the next three rounds, across five leagues and the Champions League together, will show which leaders are for real.