Ruben Amorim called his Manchester United side 'maybe the worst team' in the club's history at the weekend. You would certainly not know that the Red Devils have one of the highest wage bills in the Premier League right now.

Newcastle United CEO Darren Eales once explained how salaries were the 'most important factor' that go into a 'winning team' because, historically, the more a club spends on wages in the Premier League, the more points they pick up per game. However, since Eddie Howe took charge of a Newcastle side in deep relegation trouble, the Magpies have bucked that trend. In fact, only Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool have accumulated more points than Newcastle (209) in that time.

That is not to say that Newcastle have been paupers - more than £450m has been spent on transfer fees - but this figure still pales in comparison to a number of their rivals and eight Premier League clubs had higher wage bills than the Magpies when the black-and-whites finished in the top four a couple of seasons ago. Although Manchester United and Spurs continue to pay out more on salaries than Newcastle, the black-and-whites are currently 12 points clear of the Red Devils and 14 points clear of the Londoners in the table as Howe's team look to challenge for a place in the Champions League once again.

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"Your points finish is related to your wage spend," the Newcastle boss said a few months ago. "We're in a position now where we are not one of the top teams in terms of wage payers so we are going to have to be really smart and try and go against the grain again. That's what we have always done and that's what we will continue to try to do.

"To do that, you have to be elite in every aspect of what you're doing - coaching, recruitment, all the little details that make the big differences. That's what we're going to have to do again."

Newcastle have the chance to move up to fourth - temporarily at least - by beating bottom of the table Southampton on Saturday as the Magpies look to get back to winning ways on the South Coast.