  We undertake extensive analysis of English Premier League data over the
period 2009/10 to 2017/18 to identify and rank key factors affecting the
economic and footballing performances of the teams. Alternative end-of-season
league tables are generated by re-ranking the teams based on five different
descriptors - total expenditure, total funds spent on players, total funds
spent on foreign players, the ratio of foreign to British players and the
overall profit. The unequal distribution of resources and expenditure between
the clubs is analyzed through Lorenz curves. A comparative analysis of the
differences between the alternative tables and the conventional end-of-season
league table establishes the most likely factors to influence the performances
of the teams that we also rank using Principal Component Analysis. We find that
the top teams in the league are also those that tend to have the highest
expenditure overall, for all players, including foreign players; they also have
the highest ratios of foreign to British players. Our statistical and machine
learning study also indicates that successful performance on the field may not
guarantee healthy profits at the end of the season.
