Squad value vs league position: Which Premier League clubs are over and under performing?

We may only be five games into the new Premier League season, but there’s no doubt that the English top-flight is beginning to take shape. And with it some interesting narratives are beginning to take hold. Manchester City and Arsenal seem intent on battling for another league title, the chasing pack have succeeded or struggled in equal measure and a number of big names have already seen their pre-season preparations go up in flames as they’ve nosedived towards the bottom of the league table. 

However, while points on the board will always be the most important metric for any Premier League fan, here at Transfermarkt we can also take a closer look at how each club is doing by comparing their form on the pitch with their resources off it. Every player on our site has their own market value, which means every Premier League club also has an overall squad market value. And when we compare where each team’s squad value ranks among their rivals to their actual performances in the Premier League this season, we can deduce which clubs are over performing and which ones simply aren’t getting the best out of their star-studded squad.

Fulham top Premier League table ahead of Villa and Forest 

When it comes to which clubs are getting the most out of their squad, there is undoubtedly one run-away winner in the Premier League after five match days: Fulham. To date, Marco Silva’s side have enjoyed a tremendous start to the new league campaign, overcoming a 1-0 defeat to Manchester United in their opening game of the season to beat Leicester City 2-1, draw 1-1 with Ipswich and West Ham, only to then beat Newcastle 3-1. With a squad market value of €342m, Silva’s side are the seventeenth most valuable in the Premier League - which suggests that they should really be rubbing shoulders with the promoted sides near the bottom of the table. But their impressive start instead has them sitting comfortable in ninth place. 

Other teams that have enjoyed notably impressive starts to the season are Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest. Unai Emery’s side currently sit joint-second in the league table alongside Liverpool, following four wins from their opening five league games. In similar fashion, Forest actually remain unbeaten in the league, having drawn three games against Bournemouth, Wolves and Brighton, alongside impressive wins over Southampton and Liverpool. Despite having the twelfth most valuable squad in the English top-flight, Nuno Espírito Santo has managed to guide Forest to eighth place. Which will undoubtedly be to the delight of the club’s fans, following a very tricky campaign last season. 

Man Utd and Wolves struggle to get going with disappointing start 

At the bottom of our table are two clubs that will be far from happy with their start to the new season. The first club are Man Utd, who sit eleventh in the Premier League table with just seven points from their opening five games. After scraping by Fulham with a 1-0 win in their opening game, Erik Ten Hag’s side then lost back-to-back games to Brighton and then Liverpool. A 3-0 win over Southampton followed and hinted at a quick response from the Old Trafford side, but the weekend’s 0-0 draw at Crystal Palace instead suggests that Man Utd fans may be in store for another frustrating league campaign. And when we consider that Ten Hag has the fifth most valuable squad in the Premier League to hand, it certainly suggests that Man Utd are severely underperforming this season. 

In a notably more troubling spot are Wolves, who currently sit dead last in the Premier League table with just one point to call their own after five games. Having played Arsenal, Chelsea, Newcastle and Aston Villa in those opening match days, few would doubt that Gary O'Neil’s side have faced one of the toughest fixture schedules at the start of the season. And a hard-fought 1-1 draw with Forest in matchday three does hint at a side that are capable of fighting with other mid-table clubs for points. But with the fourteenth most valuable squad in the league, there’s little doubt that Wolves shouldn’t be sitting near the bottom of the table and will have to quickly pick up points in their forthcoming games to quickly turn their poor start around.