5 storylines to watch for as Europe’s top leagues get underway

With Europe’s top five domestic competitions and the Champions League set to start later this summer, here’s a look at five things to watch for.

The games that matter are finally on the horizon as Europe’s top leagues in England, Spain, Germany, Italy and France prepare to get underway over the coming weeks.

The Premier League gets things started on August 9 when Liverpool, the defending European champions, take on Norwich City at home. League champion Manchester City is away at West Ham the following day.

The Champions League, meanwhile, gets the group stage started on September 18 with matchday one. The draw has yet to be conducted as teams continue to qualify through the preliminary rounds this summer.

While the transfer window remains open and high-profile friendlies are still being played, here are five questions that will be answered over the course of the next 10 months.

Which league will have the closest title race?

This is a tough question to answer. While the hope is that all five leagues have close races, the chances of that happening remain nearly impossible.

Last season, the Bundesliga was the tightest race among the top five leagues as Bayern Munich edged out Borussia Dortmund to capture the meisterschale. Two seasons ago, it was Serie A that had the tightest race when Juventus beat out Napoli for the scudetto.

If the last two years are any measure, then any of these leagues could feature a race that could come down to the final weeks of the season. In Spain, Barcelona and Real Madrid are once again favorites to win it all. Over in France, PSG has had a stranglehold on the league (much like Bayern and Juve have in Germany and Italy, respectively), leaving us with the Premier League.

In England, Manchester City won it all after recording 98 points, one better than Liverpool, for what was a riveting and intense race for the trophy. Chelsea, Tottenham, Arsenal and Manchester United (the order in which they finished last season) round out the clubs battling for top four. One can only hope we get a repeat of this past season.