Comparing every Premier League club’s wage bill to its 2023-24 league position

Manchester United and Chelsea are among the Premier League’s biggest underperformers when you stack up their position in the 2023-24 table to their wage bill.

How much every club spends on wages has always strongly correlated with how the table ends up in the end, although clubs like Brighton and Brentford have done spectacularly well to punch above their weight in recent years – and they continue to do so at the start of this season.

Brighton’s wage bill has crept up steadily as they’ve made major steps forward but with an annual outlay of just £62million they still sit just 14th in terms of Premier League wages.

Roberto De Zerbi has the Seagulls sitting pretty up in eighth, above the likes of Chelsea who spend several times over what they do on player wages.

Tottenham, Wolves, Bournemouth and even Luton – relative to their outlay – are among the other clubs overachieving at this stage of the 2023-24 campaign, while Everton sit below Chelsea and Manchester United at the other end of the scale. However, this is taking into account their 10-point deduction.

The newly-promoted clubs are all more-or-less where you’d expect them to be. Likewise, Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal are up in the European spots as they ought to be.

Of course, there’s still plenty of the race left to run and you’d expect the table to take further shape in due course.

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 differences between the two.

Note: All wage bill data is via FBref.com, who source their numbers from Capology. 

Brighton

League Position: 8th

Wage bill: 14th

Total wage bill: £62million

Difference: +6

Wolves

League Position: 10th

Wage bill: 15th

Total wage bill: £54million

Difference: +5

Liverpool

League Position: 1st

Wage bill: 5th

Total wage bill: £136million

Difference: +4

Bournemouth

League Position: 12th

Wage bill: 16th

Total wage bill: £54million

Difference: +4

Luton Town

League Position: 17th

Wage bill: 20th

Total wage bill: £25million

Difference: +3

Aston Villa

League Position: 4th

Wage bill: 7th

Total wage bill: £117million

Difference: +3

Brentford

League Position: 15th

Wage bill: 17th

Total wage bill: £40million

Difference: +2

Tottenham

League Position: 5th

Wage bill: 6th

Total wage bill: £118million

Difference: +1

West Ham United

League Position: 7th

Wage bill: 8th

Total wage bill: £95million

Difference: +1

Newcastle United

League Position: 9th

Wage bill: 9th

Total wage bill: £85million

Difference: =

Manchester City

League Position: 2nd

Wage bill: 2nd

Total wage bill: £200million

Difference: =

Arsenal

League Position: 3rd

Wage bill: 3rd

Total wage bill: £166million

Difference: =

Fulham

League Position: 13th

Wage bill: 13th

Total wage bill: £65million

Difference: =

Sheffield United

League Position: 20th

Wage bill: 19th

Total wage bill: £29million

Difference: -1

Burnley

League Position: 19th

Wage bill: 18th

Total wage bill: £39million

Difference: -1

Crystal Palace

League Position: 14th

Wage bill: 12th

Total wage bill: £69million

Difference: -2

Nottingham Forest

League Position: 16th

Wage bill: 11th

Total wage bill: £72million

Difference: -5

Manchester United

League Position: 6th

Wage bill: 1st

Total wage bill: £206million

Difference: -5

Chelsea

League Position: 11th

Wage bill: 4th

Total wage bill: £155million

Difference: -7

Everton

League Position: 18th [Would be 13th if not for points deduction]

Wage bill: 10th

Total wage bill: £79million

Difference: -8