Leeds better than Liverpool in 2026 as Spurs still trail Wolves, West Ham…

Even after huge summer spending in the transfer market, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur are still slipping in the calendar year table.

Given Spurs’ outlay during the recently closed window, it was hardly an unreasonable expectation for Roberto De Zerbi’s side to have overtaken last season’s bottom-placed team inside the first fortnight.

Alas, no. After spending £320million, having played three games more, Tottenham still trail a Wolves side that for large parts of last season were expected to be the worst ever in the Premier League.

That is despite having played three games more than Wolves, but still De Zerbi’s expensively assembled squad are struggling to catch up.

It will be at least three games before they overtake West Ham. They cannot do so until the middle of October at the earliest.

Liverpool too have invested heavily this summer – only five clubs in the world spent more.

But the Reds have allowed themselves to be overtaken in the 2026 table by a Leeds United side that spent much of last season fending off the threat of relegation.

Bournemouth’s position in the top four gave Andoni Iraola the necessary glow up to catch Liverpool’s eye in the summer. And they remain there under Marco Rose despite failing to win either of their first two matches.

Crystal Palace have some excuses for most of their league struggles in 2026 since they invested much of their energy in their Europa Conference League campaign while not having to worry much about looking over their shoulder in the Premier League.

But despite the arrival of a new manager, Pierre Sage, Palace are struggling to lift themselves domestically at the start of the season that has begun with successive defeats.

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