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#3 Real Betis
With Atletico Madrid and Barcelona struggling this season, the likes of Villarreal and Real Sociedad could've imposed themselves in the race for Champions League spots. Real Betis, however, swooped in and have consolidated themselves in the Top 4. They sit in third place, just six points behind second-placed Sevilla.
Manager Manuel Pellegrini has done a phenomenal job with them over the last few years. They play a really attractive brand of football and this season they have managed to add some defensive stability to it.
They tend to attack the wide spaces a lot through their fullbacks Hector Bellerin and one of Juan Miranda or Alex Moreno. The midfield double pivot is quite strong and good on the ball. It is mostly comprised of Guido Rodriguez and one of Andres Guardado or William Carvalho.
Their attack, however, is their biggest X-factor. Sergio Canales and Nabil Fekir are breathtaking to watch with their clever interplay, smart dribbling and passing.
Juanmi and Borja Iglesias are responsible for much of the goalscoring, having scored 19 goals between them this season. Rui Silva and Claudio Bravo, their keepers, are also performing at a high level.
The big boys are on their tails, however, with Atleti and Barca only one and two points off them respectively. Hence it remains to be seen how long Los Verdiblancos can hold on to third place.
#2 Union Berlin
In terms of market value, Union Berlin are 15th in the Bundesliga. In the points table, however, they are fourth. Their success is built on their defensive solidity and they have conceded the fifth least goals (25) in the league this season.
Wins by the margin of one goal seems to be their speciality, having already had six such wins in the Bundesliga itself. Scoring is a bit more of a struggle and the majority of their attacking output is produced by their strikers Taiwo Awoniyi and Max Kruse.
Kruse left for Wolfsburg in January so Union have picked up Sven Michel from Paderborn. He has scored 14 goals and provided seven assists in 19 games in the 2. Bundesliga this season.
A lot of credit must go to manager Urs Fischer for overperforming with rather limited resources. Although it seems difficult for Union to maintain a Champions League push, they will be glad to make it to the Europa like they did last season.
#1 Strasbourg
Last season, Strasbourg finished 15th in Ligue 1, two points from the relegation playoff place. Quite incredibly this season, they are fourth more than halfway into the season.
Like Union Berlin, they aren't economically blessed either. Transfermarkt has them 12th in terms of market value in the French league. Often in the case of teams who overperform as massively as Strasbourg are, it is based on defensive solidity and narrow wins. That, however, isn't the case here. Strasbourg have scored the second-most goals in the league (44). This is just two fewer than Paris Saint-Germain's mighty strikeforce.
Their 6"5' striker Ludovic Ajorque has 10 goals and seven assists so far and only Kylian Mbappe has more goal contributions (19) than him in the league. Others around him, like Kevin Gameiro, Habib Diallo and Adrien Thomasson, have contributed a fair few goals among them too.
Their manager is Julien Stephan, who did a great job with Rennes before this and now has Strasbourg in a very good position. They play a 3-5-2 formation and a big cornerstone of their success this season has been their recent transfer business. They bought five of their starters within the last year, all of which were paid for by the sale of Mohamed Simakan to RB Leipzig.
It won't be surprising if this continues to be their business model with another promising defender of theirs, Alexander Djiku garnering transfer interest.
