Comparing every Premier League club’s wage bill to its 2024-25 league position

Brighton are once again among the Premier League’s biggest overperformers when you compare their league position to their annual wage bill, while Manchester United are the worst underachievers when you stack up their results against their wage spend.

There are notable exceptions, but looking at the table of Premier League wages is usually a decent benchmark for where each club ‘should’ be finishing in the league when all is said and done.

On that front, it would be a major achievement for newly-promoted Ipswich Town to survive given their wage bill is comfortably the lowest in the English top flight, ultimately just a fraction of the bigger clubs competing at the top end.

But Brentford, who still have the second lowest wage bill – spending less than sides like Southampton, Leicester and Everton – have demonstrated that it is possible to get a lot of limited resources, once again sitting comfortably in midtable.

Thomas Frank’s Bees are up there with Nottingham Forest and Bournemouth this season when it comes to clubs getting the most out of their wage spend.

It’s Brighton, though, that can be considered the Premier League’s biggest upstarts. They’ve made a habit of punching above their weight in recent years and look capable of making another push for European qualification – sitting 5th at the time of writing – which is a remarkable achievement given they spend an estimated £60million a year on wages, with only five clubs in the division spending less.

Table toppers Liverpool can be considered doing the best of the ‘big six’, given they spend less on wages than the likes of Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal. Meanwhile Aston Villa continue to bloody the noses of clubs that spend more freely, currently sitting fourth in the table while only sixth in terms of wages.

North London rivals Tottenham – 7th – and Arsenal – 3rd – can be considered to be performing exactly to par so far this season if you take the view that wage bills ought to correlate with the position on the table.

At the other end of the scale, it’s no wonder the pressure is mounting on Erik ten Hag at Manchester United when they currently sit 12th in the Premier League table while spending the second-most on wages behind their local rivals, perennial champions Manchester City.

West Ham, Crystal Palace and Everton are the other clubs down there with the Red Devils when it comes to not getting bang for their buck in terms of wage spend.

We’ve listed every Premier League single club by their league position in comparison to their wage bill, ranking them in order of the biggest overperformers down to the biggest underperformers.

Note: All wage bill data is via Capology. 

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Brighton
League Position: 5th
Wage bill: 15th
Total wage bill: £60.6million
Difference: +10

Nottingham Forest
League Position: 8th
Wage bill: 14th
Total wage bill: £63.4million
Difference: +6

Bournemouth
League Position: 11th
Wage bill: 17th
Total wage bill: £54.7million
Difference: +6

Brentford
League Position: 13th
Wage bill: 19th
Total wage bill: £41.4million
Difference: +6

Liverpool
League Position: 1st
Wage bill: 5th
Total wage bill: £128.8million
Difference: +4

Ipswich Town
League Position: 17th
Wage bill: 20th
Total wage bill: £X32.9million
Difference: +3

Aston Villa
League Position: 4th
Wage bill: 6th
Total wage bill: £104.6million
Difference: +2

Fulham
League Position: 10th
Wage bill: 12th
Total wage bill: £68.4million
Difference: +2

Arsenal
League Position: 3rd
Wage bill: 3rd
Total wage bill: £172.1million
Difference: =

Tottenham
League Position: 7th
Wage bill: 7th
Total wage bill: £103.5million
Difference: =

Man City
League Position: 2nd
Wage bill: 1st
Total wage bill: £201.8million
Difference: -1

Newcastle
League Position: 9th
Wage bill: 8th
Total wage bill: £98.5million
Difference: -1

Leicester City
League Position: 14th
Wage bill: 13th
Total wage bill: £65.4million
Difference: -1

Chelsea
League Position: 6th
Wage bill: 4th
Total wage bill: £171.2million
Difference: -2

Wolves
League Position: 20th
Wage bill: 18th
Total wage bill: £53.2million
Difference: -2

Southampton
League Position: 16th
Wage bill: 16th
Total wage bill: £56million
Difference: -3

Everton
League Position: 16th
Wage bill: 11th
Total wage bill: £69.3million
Difference: -5

West Ham
League Position: 15th
Wage bill: 9th
Total wage bill: £90.2million
Difference: -6

Crystal Palace
League Position: 18th
Wage bill: 10th
Total wage bill: £69.8million
Difference: -8

Manchester United
League Position: 12th
Wage bill: 2nd
Total wage bill: £185.5million
Difference: -10