5 top teams that have been disappointing this season (2021-22)

#3 Arsenal

The team failed to step up in the opening few games of the season

Arsenal have had one of the worst starts to the season by any big club across Europe's top five leagues this term. The Gunners fell to a shocking 2-0 defeat to newly promoted Brentford in their opening Premier League fixture.

That was followed by a 2-0 loss to Chelsea and a 5-0 thrashing at the hands of Manchester City, which landed them in the relegation zone. For a team that spent over €165 million on signings this summer, that was simply unacceptable.

Meanwhile, the Gunners have made some improvements in recent games, beating the likes of Norwich City, Burnley and Tottenham in their last three Premier League fixtures. They've now pulled themselves out of the relegation zone to occupy the tenth position in the table. Nevertheless, they still need to keep up the good form and climb further up the table.

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#2 Barcelona

A Messi-less Barcelona team was heavily exposed against Bayern Munich.

A 4-2 triumph over Real Sociedad gave Barcelona hope of a bright future following Lionel Messi's exit this summer. The Blaugrana recorded two victories and one draw in their first three La Liga fixtures before hitting a rough patch.

In their Champions League opener, they lost to Bayern Munich 3-0. The team put up a lacklustre display at Camp Nou, and couldn't attempt a shot on target throughout the 90 minutes.

A 1-1 draw with Granada and a goalless draw with Cadiz put Ronald Koeman's job on the line. But a 3-0 triumph over Levante helped ease the tension. The Blaugrana currently rank outside the top four in La Liga, occupying the sixth spot with 12 points in six games.

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#1 Juventus

The Old Lady team hasn't been the same since Cristiano Ronaldo's move to the Premier League.

Many predicted that Cristiano Ronaldo's departure would have a negative effect on Juventus, and they've been proven right. In the absence of the Portuguese, the Bianconeri have been a pale shadow of their illustrious selves this season.

Juventus failed to win any of their first four Serie A games this term. They recorded two draws and as many defeats to find themselves in 18th position in the points table. The team responded in recent games, though, beating Sampdoria and Spezia in their last two league games.

However, they are still nowhere near where they should be in the table. as they currently occupy a lowly eighth spot with just eight points from six games. They are a whopping ten points behind leaders Napoli. So they will have to improve by leaps and bounds to fight for the 2021-22 Serie A title.