PSG and Real Madrid lead on 12 points as only four Champions League sides stay unbeaten

Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid are the only Champions League sides with four wins from four, level on 12 points at the halfway mark of the league phase, with PSG ahead on goal difference, +15 to +6. Arsenal are third on 10 points, and Bayern Munich, 13th on eight, complete the list of unbeaten teams. Eight sides began matchday 4 without a defeat; Liverpool, Aston Villa, Stuttgart and Real Betis all lost.

Four unbeaten records end

All four defeats came on the road. Liverpool lost 3-2 at Fenerbahçe after leading twice, Aston Villa 3-0 at Barcelona, Stuttgart 2-0 at Galatasaray and Real Betis 2-1 at Borussia Dortmund. None of the four had lost in the league phase before this round. Arsenal's only dropped points came in a 2-2 draw at Bayern, who also drew 3-3 with Viking.

The gap in numbers

PSG have scored 20 goals in four games, the fewest any side has needed to reach 20 in a single Champions League campaign, according to Stats Perform, and are the first team to score four or more in four consecutive games in the competition. Real Madrid have 13 goals and have conceded seven: they were 3-1 down at Roma before winning 4-3, and on Wednesday Kylian Mbappé equalised at AEK Athens on 78 minutes before his team-mate Fede Valverde won it 3-2 in stoppage time. ESPN's Gab Marcotti noted that only PSG and Madrid have won four from four, and that Madrid "haven't looked dominant". Arsenal, with three wins and a draw, have scored eight and conceded three.

What the leaders say

PSG coach Luis Enrique said the 6-0 win at Villarreal on Tuesday "doesn't mean anything". "We spent the last two years outside the top eight and we were champions," he told reporters, and the Independent also notes that PSG missed the top eight in both of their earlier title-winning campaigns. Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta was unhappy with the second half of the 2-1 win at Slavia Prague, where Noni Madueke and Viktor Gyökeres had put his side 2-0 up by the 38th minute before Slavia took 17 second-half shots, the joint-most in a half against Arteta's Arsenal in the competition, Stats Perform says. "Two very different halves. We should have had three or four goals in the first half, but we didn't do it," Arteta told TNT Sports.

The run-in

Matchday 5 opens on Tuesday 24 November, when Real Madrid host PSV Eindhoven and Arsenal host Borussia Dortmund; PSG welcome Roma the next night. The only meeting between the top three comes at the Emirates on Wednesday 9 December, when Arsenal host Real Madrid, a day after PSG visit Aston Villa. The league phase ends on Wednesday 27 January with PSG at home to Galatasaray, Arsenal at home to Sabah and Real Madrid at Shakhtar Donetsk. PSG will be without Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, who the Independent says is out for the rest of the season with a ruptured ACL.

The line at eighth

The top eight go straight to the last 16, and places nine to 24 enter a play-off round. Nine clubs are on nine points, from fourth-placed Como (+13) down to 12th-placed Dortmund (+2). Liverpool, Club Brugge and Sporting CP are all on +4, and Liverpool hold eighth place with 14 goals scored to Brugge's 11 and Sporting's 8. Liverpool's next league-phase game is at Club Brugge, according to the Independent's fixture list.