As well as domestic matches in the Premier League, the 2017/18 domestic European Football season will also get underway in just over a fortnight time, so below we take a brief look at four of the major European leagues and pick a tip for each.
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FRANCE
Monaco’s young squad surprised many last season, in beating PSG to the Ligue 1, but with the likes of Bernardo Silva and Tiemoue Bakayoko leaving and the questions of Kylian Mbappe’s next club, Monaco will find it difficult to overhaul PSG for a second time.
Outside of those two leading favourites, Marseille and Lyon will be vying for third place and Champions League football. The loss of Alexandre Lacazette and Corentin Tolisso will weaken Lyon no doubt, despite some decent replacement signings, while Marseille have bolstered the side with Clinton N’Jie, Adil Rami and Luiz Gustavo joining the club and I can see Marseille pushing for that third and final place at Europe’s top table.
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GERMANY
The Bundesliga looks to be Bayern Munich’s title before a ball has been kicked, while the rest fight among themselves for European scraps.
I expect to see both Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig up there, which should leave one Champions League place up for grabs, with several sides in the mix. Both Bayer Leverkusen and Hoffenheim have a great chance, but a number of key player losses in the transfer window will have weakened both sides.
So with this in mind, I’m going for Borussia Monchengladbach to beat both sides to that fourth place. The side have only lost one player of note in Mahmoud Dahoud, but incoming players, including Matthias Ginter and Timothee Kolodziejczak will bolster an already solid side that have been consistent over the past couple of seasons.
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ITALY
Will 2017/18 be the year that the Juventus wheels fall off? Maybe. The “Old Lady” have been magnificent over the last four or five seasons and won the title by five points ahead of Roma, with Napoli in third. However, Juve have lost Dani Alves and Leonardo Bonucci this Summer, which is likely to have some knock on effect.
Roma have hemorrhaged several stars including Mo Salah, Antonio Rudiger and Leandro Paredes, but despite activity in the market, Roma look weaker for it. The Milan clubs have been splashing the cash, but I think it may be a season too soon to expect a Milanese champion this season.
So the only challenge I can see, should come from Napoli. They have managed to so far, keep their side together and with the addition of Christian Zuniga and a couple of others, the Partenopei look in good shape to improve on last season. They finished seven points behind Juve in third, but it certainly is not an insurmountable gap.
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SPAIN
Betting on La Liga is pretty much a flip of a coin, between Real Madrid and Barcelona, with eleven of the last thirteen seasons, featuring those two sides in the top spots.
Looking elsewhere, there is not much value around, with Atletico odds on for a top four spot and Sevilla likely to head Villarreal for fourth. All this looks set in stone.
So with that in mind, the battle for the Pichichi, La Liga’s top scorer at least offers some value. Unsurprisingly it’s a straight fight between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in the betting.
I’m going for Cristiano Ronaldo to win the Pichichi, with more expected from the Portuguese captain and talisman. The exit of Alvaro Morata, will give CR7 more goalscoring responsibilities, something that he will thrive on, especially as he has not won the top scorer crown in La Liga since 2015.
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