Our interactive Big Six Premier League Squad Study has been commissioned to take an in-depth look at how the squads of the Premier League’s big six (Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur) have evolved since the Premier League was founded in 1992.

Our study can reveal that for the first time since the Premier League was established, the league’s big six have had more players from Central Europe representing them than players from the British Isles.

In fact, since the start of the Premier League, the total number of British footballers used in a season by the big six has dropped by 65%, from 162 to 59. In contrast, the total number of Central European footballers used in a season by the big six has risen by 2233%, from 3 to 70.

In the early years of the Premier League, the arrival of Arsène Wenger proved to be the catalyst for a mass influx of French players in the big six. As rival teams looked to mirror Arsenal’s transfer policy, the number of French players steadily rose, peaking at 22 in the 2002-03, 2003-04 and 2007-08 seasons. Though the number of French players suffered a sharp drop during the 2008/09 season partly as a result of France’s poor performance at Euro 2008, France were only unseated as the non-British nation with the highest number of players playing for the big six in the 2012-13 season.

Taking their place at the top of the table is Spain. The number of Spanish players representing the big six has been trending up ever since Liverpool hired Rafa Benitez as manager in 2004. With Liverpool’s success, Spain’s emergence in the latter half of the decade as the world’s dominant international team and the increase in the Premier League’s financial muscle, Spanish players have become a must-have for the big six.

The re-emergence of Belgium as a footballing heavyweight is also reflected by the growing number of Belgian players representing the Premier League’s big six. Such is the success of the country’s ‘golden generation’ that since the start of the 2012-13 season there have been more Belgian players representing the big six clubs than Dutch players. This would have been considered unthinkable at the start of the decade when players like Dennis Bergkamp, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Jaap Stam were at the peak of their powers. But with the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Romelu Lukaku and Thibaut Courtois all moving to the Premier League at relatively early points of their careers and enjoying success, we only expect the number of Belgians playing for the big six to increase over time.