Man Utd team-mates Juan Mata and Phil Jones shake hands after Spain's win over England

A higher proportion of Premier League players have won international caps this season than any other league in Europe - with Manchester United leading the way.

Over 41 per cent of players who have appeared in the Premier League this season have also played international football since the start of the campaign, according to the CIES Football Observatory Digital Atlas.

United have used the highest proportion across the European leagues in the study - 72 per cent of players used by Louis van Gaal in the top flight this term have played for their country in 2015/16.

On Friday night alone, Michael Carrick, Phil Jones, Chris Smalling, Wayne Rooney and Juan Mata all featured during Spain's 2-0 win over England, while Anthony Martial, who set up Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud's opener, and Morgan Schneiderlin faced club team-mate Bastian Schweinsteiger as France beat Germany in Paris, Daley Blind was in action for the Netherlands and full-back Matteo Darmian played for Italy.

Percentage of active internationals by PL club this season 1 Manchester United 72.0 2 Chelsea 66.7 3 Arsenal 64.0 - Tottenham 64.0 5 Manchester City 51.9 6 Liverpool 50.0 7 Southampton 44.4 8 West Brom 43.5 9 Swansea City 40.0 10 Everton 39.3 - Crystal Palace 39.3 12 Stoke City 38.5 - Leicester City 38.5 14 Norwich City 34.6 15 Bournemouth 33.3 16 Watford 27.6 - Sunderland 27.6 18 Newcastle 25.0 19 Aston Villa 22.2 20 West Ham 20.0

Second on the list in England is Chelsea, with 66.7 per cent of their squad achieving international recognition this term, followed by Arsenal and Tottenham, who are tied in third with 64 per cent.

Manchester City (51.9 per cent) and Liverpool (50 per cent) make the top six, with Premier League surprise package Leicester joint-12th with Stoke on 38.5 per cent.

At the other end of the table, just 20 per cent of the players used by West Ham this season have played internationally since the start of this campaign. Only James Collins and Darren Randolph have been in action for their countries during this international break.

Aston Villa - who currently sit bottom of the Premier League - are in 19th place, with just 22 per cent.

Percentage of active internationals by European club this season 1 Manchester United 72.0 2 CSKA Moscow 71.4 3 Real Madrid 69.6 4 Chelsea 66.7 5 Arsenal 64.0 - Tottenham 64.0 7 PSG 63.6 8 Juventus 60.0 9 Atletico Madrid 57.1 10 Dynamo Kiev 56.0 - Barcelona 56.0 12 Fenerbahce 51.9 - Fiorentina 51.9 - Manchester City 51.9 15 Liverpool 50.0 16 Roma 48.1 - Napoli 48.1 18 Borussia Dortmund 48.0 19 Bayern Munich 47.8 20 Porto 45.8

Across Europe, Germany sit behind England in the table with 30.9 per cent of Bundesliga players featuring for a national team this term. Russia (26.6 per cent), Italy (26.5 per cent) and France (21.6 per cent) are next on the list.

Spain are down in seventh, with just 19.6 per cent of players in La Liga representing their national team since the start of the season, while Belgium's top flight just sneaks into the top 10 with 13.3 per cent.

In the Scottish Premiership, 7.1 per cent of players have played for a national team since the start of the season. Slovenia is bottom of the pile with only two per cent.