Barcelona back on top in form rankings as Man City drop off the leaderboard

After a third consecutive league win last time out, scoring 11 goals and conceding none in that time, Barcelona are back at the top of our team form rankings from Europe’s top five leagues.

Lionel Messi stole the show at Levante last weekend, with a direct hand in all five of the blaugrana’s goals in a thumping win, while they are joined on the leaderboard for the first time in months by rivals Real Madrid.

New coach Santiago Solari has also masterminded three successive victories, though in considerably less emphatic fashion, with a 1-0 win over Rayo Vallecano last time out only enough to see his side rise to eighth in the rankings.

Barca’s closest challengers right now, and the team that they have overtaken this week to top the pile, is Juventus, whose march to yet another Serie A title is well and truly underway. The Old Lady earned a fifth consecutive clean sheet in the league in the derby against Torino, though they too were narrow winners, with a 70th minute Cristiano Ronaldo penalty separating the sides.

Napoli also scraped a victory as they attempt to keep some pressure on Max Allegri’s side at the top to remain third in the the form rankings, while Liverpool keep their place in fourth following the win over Manchester United that ultimately cost Jose Mourinho his job.

The Reds are joined by another Premier League side in the top ten, though it isn’t Manchester City, who drop out for the first time all season. Pep Guardiola’s side did win at the weekend but have now conceded in seven successive matches in all competitions and certainly aren’t as dominant as they were last month.

It is, instead, their former coach Manuel Pellegrini that has seen his side shoot onto the leaderboard after West Ham secured a fourth consecutive league win at Fulham last time out. The Hammers, having lost their opening four matches of the season, are now just two points off the top six.

Sandwiched between Liverpool in fourth and West Ham in seventh are Bundesliga duo Bayern Munich and Wolfsburg, with the former finally beginning to close the gap to Dortmund at the top. It’s four wins on the spin for the reigning champions, while Wolfsburg have picked up 13 points from the last 15 available to rocket from 13th to sixth in the table in that time frame and consequently occupy the same spot in the form rankings.

Ligue 1 pairing Paris Saint-Germain and Nice complete the list this week, with the former down in ninth having drawn back-to-back games following a 14-match winning streak at the start of the season. The latter have now drawn three on the spin themselves but did stretch their unbeaten streak to six matches with a decent point against Saint-Etienne.