by Greg Seltzer for Soccer365

It's back to the standard edition for this week's run through league happening in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain.

As usual, we rank the stories by their proximity to the title chase.

#5 - Curse of the Barber?

Sevilla certainly opened well enough this season, winning the first four at home and going unbeaten in the first nine, including a draw Barcelona. On Halloween, something went wrong.

That haunted night, Sevilla leaked two goals in the final 11 minutes to drop a 2-1 home decision against basement dwellers Granada. After a scoreless affair at Mallorca, they returned to
"La Bombonera de Nervion" to suffer the horror of their first home loss to Athletic Bilbao since 1993.

A point off the lead before Halloween, they are now an unlucky 13 off the pace in sixth. The real culprit in their nightmare, however, is a scaredy-cat offense that closes down early in games.

Sevilla have just 12 goals in 12 matches, with exactly none of them coming after the 57th minute. Sure, the team has yet to trail at halftime this season - but they also have conceded eight past the hour.

Mystery solved.

#4 - "You can't hiiiide those Lyon eyes... "

Smiles are indeed thin disguises at the Gerland these days, with Lyon's quest to regain the crown suddenly losing the royal steam.

It's no laughing L'OL matter, especially as they topped Ligue 1 through eight rounds. Three losses in four have put them seven points back of Paris St. Germain - and that's with the leaders going without a win of their own for the last two weekends.

More disturbingly, blew an early lead to fall to visiting Rennes this past round, snapping both a five-game winning run and 17-match unbeaten streak in league play at the friendly confines.

The problems here have much to do with the defense, which often suffers from focus outages. Including the Champions, League, Lyon has allowed at least two goals in six of their last nine.

In league play, their defensive lapses are actually somewhat predictable. Lyon have leaked six of 17 goals within eight minutes of intermission, four next to the hour mark and three over the final three minutes.

Of course, getting top gun Bafi Gomis his first goal in over a month would probably also help.

#3 - So then, you're not leaving?

Forgive all of us (myself included) that may have erred in assuming Borussia Moenchengladbach's early success would soon turn sour and they'd slide down the table.

Oops?

Yes, maybe oops. After beating the sense into and then back out of Werder Bremen this weekend, the Foals stand third and two points from the top with a three-game win streak.

Hot transfer topic Marco Reus grabbed three in that 5-0 rout, giving him an insane seven inside just 211 minutes of Bundesliga play at one point this weekend.

Let's not forget to praise the defense, by the way. Last term, this same team leaked more than three in a match 13 times. This year, that has yet to happen in 13 games, with the league's second-stingiest defense only allowing as many as two in one contest.

If they keep this form up, the Foals could pass last season's total of 36 points before the Christmas break.

Oops.

#2 - Cornering the Farmer's Market

When PSV Eindhoven (a ka The Farmers) won 3-1 at nearby rival De Graafschaap (the cheekily-monikered Super Farmers), the Philips gang had done some quite good business.

With leaders AZ having their game called off by heavy fog, PSV were able to move to within three points of the top. They passed a drawn FC Twente, while fourth place Ajax and fifth place Heerenveen also shared points.

Technically, PSV has been doing the business since losing at AZ on opening day. Paced by 19 thus far from summer buys Dries Mertens and Tim Matavz, they lead the Eredivisie with 36 goals in 13 games. They may have some sort of lulling power, as 13 of their last 16 strikes have come after the 54th minute.

On the other hand, if the light bulbs go out on their attack, things could get darker. Uncharacteristically, PSV have just two league clean sheets in the last three months.

#1 - (Old) Ladies First

Quick... name the last remaining league unbeaten in the five countries we inspect every week.

If you said Juventus, then make yourself a nice slow food bollito misto. Heading into a showdown with second place Lazio on Saturday, the Old Lady took the top by goal differential with a game in hand on a weekend where no other top six team posted a win.

Having bagged exactly two goals in four of five Serie A tilts, Juventus did one better by hitting three to ease past Palermo. Showing a better team balance than in recent seasons, they have had five different scorers over the last three games and eight already through 10 games.

Believe it or not, Juventus have now scored 21 goals dating back to last season without an Alessandro Del Piero tally.