Despite their reverse in the thriller at Anfield on Sunday, Manchester City still lead the Premier League title race by 12 points from a posse that has at times seemed so incapable of organising a successful chase its members would not look out of place in a Blazing Saddles remake. City are far from alone in dominating their domestic league; in Scotland, Celtic are eight points clear of Aberdeen, while the Welsh Premier League is all over bar the shouting as New Saints FC enjoy a regal procession to their inevitable coronation. Northern Irish football fans have a Premiership title race to enjoy, albeit a two-horser involving Crusaders and Coleraine, who are separated by a solitary point after 24 games but well clear of the best of the rest.

Outside the UK in Europe’s traditional Big Leagues, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint‑Germain already look home and hosed in Spain, Germany and France respectively, while Napoli lead Juventus by only one point after 20 games in Italy with Inter well back in third. The Swiss, Austrian, Bulgarian, Slovenian, Russian, Belgian and Ukrainian top flights are similarly among the majority of Europe’s leagues dominated by one or two teams. While far from over the Dutch Eredivisie is headed by PSV Eindhoven, who have a five-point cushion over Ajax with AZ Alkmaar eight points behind in third; the Romanian, Portuguese and Belarussian leagues are each being fought out by three teams. Elsewhere in Europe, particularly close championships are harder to find. Readers looking for scrambles in which a blanket can still be thrown over four or more live contenders could do worse than keep an eye on the following leagues.

Greek Superleague

Only five points separate the top four teams in a Greek Super League headed by Olympiakos, who lead AEK Athens and PAOK by one with Atromitos a further four points behind. Things would be even tighter were it not for Atromitos’s decidedly mediocre home form, which has meant the team from western Athens winning three and drawing four of the eight matches they’ve played at their Peristeri Stadium, compared to six wins and two draws out of nine on the road. The most successful team in Greek history, Olympiakos are trying to win their 45th title.

Turkish Super Lig

Istanbul Basaksehir, who have just signed Arda Turan on loan from Barcelona, head a wide open Turkish Süper Lig by a point from Galatasaray, with Fenerbahce three off the pace. All three clubs are based in Istanbul, while Kayserispor and Goztepe, from Kayseri and Izmir respectively, have six points to make up on the leaders, like Besiktas, another Istanbul team. Runners-up behind Besiktas last season, Basaksehir are looking to win their first title and number the former France and Arsenal full-back Gaël Clichy and Swiss veteran Gokhan Inler among their players. Should Basaksehir prevail Inler, a former Leicester and Besiktas midfielder, will get his third championship medal in as many seasons with three different clubs.

Arda Turan waves to supporters while being escorted by police officers as he arrives in Istanbul. Photograph: Ozan Kose/AFP/Getty Images

Polish Ekstraklasa

After 21 rounds of games the top four teams in Poland’s Ekstraklasa are separated by two points, while nine of the 16 teams in the top flight are within eight points of the leaders, Legia Warsaw. The defending champions and 12-times winners are two points clear of a group comprising Lech Poznan, Gornik Zabrze and Jagiellonia Bialystok, with Zaglebie Lubin a further four points back in fifth. Jagiellonia Bialystok are the only team never to have won the title and are hoping to go one better than their second-place finish last year. Once all 16 teams have played each other home and away, the league will split and a championship and relegation round begins with each team starting on half the number of points they accrued during the regular season.

Israeli Ligat

The Israeli top flight looks tighter than a drum, with Hapoel Be’er Sheva leading the 14-strong league after 18 games, but only on goal difference from Maccabi Tel Aviv. Locked together on 38 points, the two clubs are one clear of Beitar Jerusalem with Hapoel Haifa a further point back in fourth. Despite being eight and 10 points off the pace respectively, Bnei Yehuda Tel-Aviv and Maccabi Netanya will also fancy their chances of taking their points totals into a round-robin play-off for the top six that will ultimately decide the champions.

Cypriot First Division

Omonia Nicosia’s Matt Derbyshire was the unlikely top scorer in last season’s Cypriot championship, but his team are currently in sixth place, 13 points off the pace in a division headed by Apoel Nicosia on 45. Two points behind them are Apollon Limasson and both have a game in hand over AEK Larnaca, also on 43, and Anorthosis Famagusta on 41. Best known for his spells at Blackburn and Nottingham Forest, Derbyshire should end up in the six-team round-robin that will decide the champions. Beaten home and away in this season’s Champions League by Tottenham, his club’s “eternal enemies” Apoel are the reigning champions and aiming to win their sixth consecutive title.

Bosnia and Herzogovina’s Liga 12

FK Zeljeznicar from Sarajevo, with whom Edin Dzeko began his career, top the division, which was reduced from 16 teams to a round dozen last season. They are a point clear of the reigning champions, Zrinjski, with FK Sarajevo and Siroki Brijeg six points off the pace in third and fourth. Another league where the top and bottom six go into championship and relegation mini-leagues at the end of the regular season, 10 of the 12 clubs are still in with a shout of finishing in the top six with four games to go, even if only eight have realistic chances. Like so many of the title races featured, it is a league that seems likely to go right down to the wire ... before going right down to the wire again.