Lens had such an efficient performance that it helped them destroy PSG by 3-1 in a home game. They had 4 shots on target in total and 3 of them ended up with goals. PSG really had difficulties in the absence of Neymar and Messi today. Mbappe couldn't make the contribution needed for at least one point. Even if he played better they might have still lost this game though.

Lens seemed very determined and deserved all the appreciation. However the point difference is still 4 between them in the standings. I don't know whether Lens can get closer than this but we'll see.

Joao Felix is still indicating that he is available to be signed in January. The feeling must be mutual between him and Simeone. It doesn't seem like Simeone is very satisfied with having him in the team. He also looks like eager to sell him. Honestly he is a skilled player but he is like he doesn't fit Simeone's game plan completely.

Even Simeone's future at Atletico Madrid is debatable though. If Felix waits for him to leave or be sacked then maybe he might find just the suitable manager for himself. But it's his choice. Manchester United are still after him seemingly.

Chelsea also surprised me by a draw against Nottingham. This was like one of the most comfortable fixtures for them in the season. After seeing positive things in their Bournemouth game I started to think like they might be rising finally. This was another opportunity to maintain a winning streak as well. However things didn't go the way they hoped.

I don't know why but Chelsea couldn't do anything in the second half. They needed to continue to fight for increasing the goal difference. 1-0 was a risky score against even one of the weakest teams of the league. And they got the punishment for keeping this score too long.

The Atletico Madrid game is going to be more difficult than the Espanyol one on paper maybe. But I still believe in Barcelona to get what they want from that game. Getting only one draw after a lasting winning streak shouldn't mislead people. Barcelona are still the favourite side to win their next game. Because they are much more consistent than their opponent in the first place.

Atletico Madrid aren't one of the credible teams with their performance. After seeing them having a difficulty against Elche I wonder how they will prepare for the Barcelona game. But I think they will lose anyway just as it happened against Real Madrid before.

Inter: 2.28  Napoli: 3.15

The current odds of these teams for the win are like this now. If I'm not wrong Inter's odd has increased by a little. I'm not surprised as they are going to be facing the leader in the end. We all are aware of Napoli's unbelievable performance until this point. However Inter are still keeping their favourite condition because of being dominant against Napoli in the head-to-head games. But it is still too difficult to trust a side to bet on. If I choose one of them of course my choice would be Napoli as they have been more reliable throughout the season.

It is really hard to understand Tottenham. I was very confident about them to win a game finally after returning to the Premier League. However they were just horrible against Aston Villa. Kane was also silent today. Maybe his score contribution would have been helpful for the team to wake up. But I won't blame him for this loss of course.

There has been a visible decrease when it comes to their defensive performance. Conte is like he doesn't know what to do about this. His being desperate is really alarming but hopefully they can collect themselves as soon as possible.

By the way shouldn't Real Madrid be the new leader now?

Because they have beaten Barcelona before in the season and they are at equal points currently. The La Liga takes the head-to-head games into consideration while assessing what team is ahead in this kind of a situation. Maybe they don't show it like that because of not reaching the end of the season yet I don't know. But I must admit one thing that Barcelona's point loss against Espanyol was very unexpected. Even Lewandowski couldn't save the team there. Maybe they were a little complacent due to getting close to the new year.

We are seeing the same competition between Freiburg and Leipzig again in this season. They were fighting for top 4 in the previous one and Freiburg lost the battle by getting bad results on the final weeks of the season. This time they must be more serious to achieve their goal. Surely there wouldn't be any revenge situation. Both are always aiming to qualify for the Champions League only.

Leipzig have more potential if we consider only the squad qualities. But football is more than that of course. Freiburg have had a really good team effort so far. But of course Leipzig have at least proven that they are stronger than Freiburg in their matchup as they beat them 3-1.

Then it is the end of the career of a legend after signing for Al-Nassr. Because I don't think he would even think of returning to Europe before his retirement anymore. He is already very old and he would reach the age of 40 or so there as well. Even if he wants to return to Europe in a couple of years to fight in the Champions League I don't think there would be any team interested in him at all just as now.

He is going to earn around 75 million dollars a year at Al-Nassr. This is really insane.  

PSG - Bayern Munich is the most attention getting matchup for me of course.

Bayern Munich are favoured to advance to next round by bookmakers by the way. It is 1.75 to 2.00. This is pretty interesting to me honestly. PSG are stronger than their version which eliminated Bayern Munich before without Messi. I would have expected them to be the favourite by a slight margin here. Of course there is still a long time and we don't know if we see more injuries. But if we don't then I feel myself closer to PSG for now. The trio can do a great job in this.

Such a lovely return by Benzema really.

He has returned by scoring 2 goals in the Valladolid game. I believe Valladolid were pretty good against them until they got that red card. After this red card Real Madrid turned this into an advantage superbly and scored two goals in a short time. The goal that broke the deadlock of the game was enough for Real Madrid to score another one easier. They are the temporary leader in the standings now. However I expect Barcelona to take it back by defeating Espanyol.

There was a really funny thing happened in the Liverpool game.    Leicester defender Wout Faes scored two own goals by a seven-minute interval and this caused Liverpool to get ahead by 2-1 suddenly. I bet Liverpool weren't expecting to turn the game around that easy. It was like a gift to them thanks to this player. I can't imagine how bad this performance would affect his mental.

Liverpool had more goal attempts in the second half but it still ended by 2-1. They got what they wanted of course but they need to do better than this normally. I liked their performance against Aston Villa more.

It was a pretty unexpected result by PSG for me. Because I would have expected them to get a more comfortable win against Strasbourg. Because Strasbourg were not even close to their performance in the previous season. They are in the relegation zone now you know. Thanks to Mbappe, PSG barely scored the winning goal by a penalty and won 2-1.

Lens' drawing with Nice made things even more comfortable for PSG in the league. The point difference is 7 now. PSG can finish the season early anyway even if they become complacent from time to time.

Toni Kroos has been one of the most skillful midfielders for sure. He had so many years with Bayern Munich and Real Madrid in his career. He has always been very helpful for them both. I think his best times were with Bayern Munich. He was able to score many more goals and make many assists at the same time. I don't want to underestimate his Real Madrid career as well of course. He is still a very important player for Real Madrid even though they brought some new youngsters to the team.

Kroos will be remembered very positively by both of these teams surely.

West Ham are a big mess now. They are 2-0 behind against Brentford already in the first half. I really don't get how they became this much bad in only one season. They have like no difference than Sevilla in the La Liga. Both of them were pretty good in the previous season but now they are both in big trouble. Moyes needs to do something to help the team get away from the relegation zone.

Liverpool are also in trouble as Leicester are in the lead still. They still haven't got rid of the shocking goal that came in the 4th minute. Liverpool are better than this. Maybe they are dealing with injuries as well but the current lineup is still enough to defeat Leicester. We all saw how desperate Leicester were against Newcastle. Liverpool should be able to make a comeback.

Sevilla are still unable to win a game. This time they drew with Celta Vigo by 1-1. They were horrible in the first half by the way. Celta Vigo could have made the score gap more than one actually and this would have ended up with a loss for Sevilla most probably. Sevilla must be thankful for not seeing it happening. They saved one point by improving their performance in the second half.

It looks like the break wasn't any help for Sevilla at all. They are still having big difficulties in their games and I'm starting to be worried about their possibility of even relegating from the La Liga. I know it is too early but I hope that doesn't happen.

Chelsea have started to give a good look after the break for the World Cup. The Bournemouth game wasn't hard on paper maybe but it was an important win for Chelsea. If they manage to keep up a good form in the league until the Dortmund matchup, then I will surely be favouring Chelsea to advance. They are already the favourite side according to bookmakers.

Dortmund seem more fragile to me honestly. They have a good attacking line but this might not be enough to beat Chelsea. They will need to make improvements in defense line as well. But it feels like Chelsea can do a similar thing to the one they did against Milan in the group games. 

Arsenal had better be careful this week. It is a more challenging fixture against Brighton. I know that Brighton don't have Potter anymore and they have been in a phase to adapt to the new manager for some time. But their general results so far have been quite decent. The Southampton victory must also be a big help for them to concentrate on the Arsenal game more.

Brighton have good statistics against Arsenal in home games considering the head-to-head games in this stadium in the Premier League. We will see if they will be able to use this as an advantage somehow. But Arsenal's extraordinary performance is really hard to stop now.

Maybe Bellingham is feeling himself closer to Real Madrid rather than Liverpool but I wonder what he would think if Manchester City also enter the race. Because Manchester City might have an advantage because of Erling Haaland. They were teammates at Dortmund before as you know. Bellingham and Haaland are still close friends seemingly.

But on the other hand I don't know if this would be an influence over Bellingham. Maybe he won't be eager to decide his future depending on this especially.

Atletico Madrid are indeed not playing efficiently at all. The percentage of successful goal attempts is very low despite being dominant in ball possession from the beginning to the end. Having only 4 shots on target is a very bad statistics for sure. There were three red cards as well in this game. Especially Quina's red card was really funny.    The guy entered the game in the 83rd minute. He got his first yellow in 3 minutes and the second yellow came 4 minutes after that.  

If Elche had hopes for an equalizer he ended them for sure. However Atletico Madrid are still very unreliable as I said in my previous posts.