No room at the top for European football title rivals

After the weekend’s matches, the aggregate gap between the top two sides in Europe’s five major leagues — England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain — is just five points.

In England, Manchester United lead Chelsea and Arsenal by two points, although the Blues have a game in hand, while Bayern Munich currently enjoy a two-point advantage over Schalke in the Bundesliga.

Inter Milan’s advantage over city rivals AC Milan was sliced to a single point when Leonardo’s side beat Chievo on Sunday night, while in France and Spain, the title contenders are separated by goal difference alone.

Overall it is a far cry from the same stage of last season, by which time eventual champions Manchester United, Barcelona and Inter had already established leads of four, six and seven points respectively.

Not since the 2001-02 season have the top three in the English Premier League been so close together with only eight matches to play.

That year it was Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool tussling for the title, while this season Chelsea have assumed the Merseysiders’ place.

Arsenal crossed the finish line in first place in 2002 and United coach Sir Alex Ferguson feels Arsene Wenger’s men, who have won their last five consecutive league games, are well placed to repeat the trick.

“We are back in the lead, but Chelsea have a game in hand,” Ferguson said after his side’s 3-0 defeat of Fulham on Sunday.

“It’s also going to be a hard-fought tussle, with Arsenal coming strongly now, and I have a suspicion that they might yet mount the biggest challenge.

“It’s looking very tight. We have only got eight games left, Chelsea have nine games left, so you never know.”

David Beckham’s season-ending injury grabbed the headlines in Italy but his Milan side’s 1-0 victory at home to Chievo looks set to prove the catalyst for a renewed assault on Inter’s Serie A stranglehold.

“I think Inter still have the ball in their court. They’ve been winning for a long time, have many resources and are very strong,” said Milan coach Leonardo.

“We must continue our path without making too many calculations. There are 10 games to go and we need to focus only on what we achieve. Then, step by step, we’ll see where we end up.”

Real Madrid and Barcelona continue to match each other stride for stride in Spain, with Real currently top owing to a +50 goal difference that is just two goals superior to the Catalans’.

Barcelona put the pressure on their old foes by defeating Valencia 3-0 thanks to a wonderful hat-trick from Argentina star Lionel Messi on Sunday, only for Real to reply in kind with a 4-1 triumph at Valladolid inspired by a treble from their own Argentine international, Gonzalo Higuain.

“We scored four goals, which is always a reason to be satisfied,” said Real midfielder Rafael van der Vaart, whose side were dumped out of the Champions League by Lyon last week.

“Matches like this one are very important. All we have left is La Liga and we want to win it.”

Nowhere are things more congested at the top of the table than in France, with defending champions Bordeaux, Montpellier, Auxerre, Lille, Lyon and Marseille seperated by just three points.

Fourth-placed Lille were the only side from the top six to win at the weekend and coach Rudi Garcia says they are quietly moving into position.

“We’re jockeying for the best position behind Bordeaux and we want to be there when the final straight comes around,” he said.

“For the moment, that’s our objective. The big sides have been there for a while, we knew they would be. But we’re there too.”

In Germany, Bayern’s rise to the top of the table suggests they are clicking into form at an ominous time for their rivals, after an underwhelming start to the campaign in which they won just three of their opening eight league games.

“We’ve been confident since November,” said captain Mark van Bommel.

“We’re on a terrific run, we’re in the cup and the Champions League, and top of the table.”