If you want to find a Premier League name on World Cup semi-final duty, look to defence, rather than attack.

For although the squads of the tournament’s final four contain 41 Premier League players between them, very few of the forwards on show are based in England.

France, Spain and Argentina have a combined total of 20 players who featured in England’s top flight last season.

To add to that are 21 of the 26 players in the Three Lions squad – a tally that includes Anthony Gordon, who featured for Newcastle last season but has since joined Barcelona, but excludes Marcus Rashford, who spent the campaign on loan at the Nou Camp from Manchester United.

The Premier League is comfortably the most well-represented domestic competition in the semi-finals – La Liga is next on the list, with 29 players, 17 of whom are in the Spain squad.

Yet if you start to break down the Premier League contingent by position, a trend emerges.

This year’s semi-finalists have plenty of England-based defensive options: Argentina have Tottenham’s Cristian Romero and Manchester United’s Lisandro Martinez; France have Arsenal’s William Saliba and Aston Villa’s Lucas Digne; Spain have Chelsea’s Marc Cucurella and Tottenham’s Pedro Porro.

England’s starting outfield back six, plus the goalkeeper, for their 2-1 quarter-final win over Norway all played in the Premier League last season.

Almost 95% of England’s defensive minutes during the tournament have been played by Premier League footballers. The figures are also high for Argentina (46.8%), Spain (45.5%) and France (43.1%).

Up front, it is a different story.

For their 2-0 quarter-final victory over Morocco, France boasted a front three of Desire Doue (Paris St-Germain), Kylian Mbappe (Real Madrid) and Ousmane Dembele (Paris St-Germain), often supported by Michael Olise (Bayern Munich).

Spain, 2-1 quarter-final winners over Belgium, started with Alex Baena (Atletico Madrid), Mikel Oyarzabal (Real Sociedad) and Lamine Yamal (Barcelona), often helped by Dani Olmo (Barcelona).

Argentina, for their 3-1 win over Switzerland, went with a front two of Julian Alvarez (Atletico Madrid) and Lionel Messi (Inter Miami), although two of the four midfielders behind them come from the Premier League in Liverpool’s Alexis Mac Allister and Chelsea’s Enzo Fernandez.

Of England’s front line, only the right-sided option – Noni Madueke or Arsenal club-mate Bukayo Saka – will play their football in England next season, following Gordon’s move to La Liga. So is the Premier League struggling to match the elite attacking talent of other leagues?

Manchester City’s Erling Haaland, who went out at the quarter-final stage with Norway, might say otherwise, while midfielder Mikel Merino – of Arsenal – has arguably been Spain’s key man in the knockouts.

But only one of England’s starting front four against Norway – Madueke – will play in the Premier League next season.

None of Spain’s starting front four will – Merino has been used as an impact substitute – while the Premier League representation in the France attack has been provided only in cameo appearances by Manchester City’s Rayan Cherki and Crystal Palace’s Jean-Philippe Mateta.

In other words, Premier League clubs are supplying many of the defenders still chasing the trophy, even if the headline forwards are largely working elsewhere.

The goal numbers point the same way.

England have scored 13 goals on their run to the semi-finals – none of them from players who featured in the Premier League last season: Six for Real Madrid’s Jude Bellingham, six for Bayern Munich’s Harry Kane, and one for Rashford.

France have scored 16 and also have no goals from Premier League-based players. Argentina’s Premier League contingent have contributed four goals, while Spain’s have added three.

The trend was highlighted on BBC Radio 5 Live’s Monday Night Club, where presenter Mark Chapman pointed out that England have yet to have “a player who’s scored in this tournament and who’s played in the Premier League this season”.

Journalist Rory Smith suggested some players based abroad may benefit from avoiding the Premier League’s weekly “grind” – though argued that Europe’s elite clubs increasingly view it as the “gold standard”.

Former England striker Chris Sutton disagreed, saying there is “no clear way” to measure whether the physical demands of the Premier League are a disadvantage at major tournaments.

Across the tournament as a whole, Premier League players have produced more attacking output than any other league, combining for 70 goals and 57 assists. Their 127 goal involvements are comfortably more than La Liga’s 66 and the Bundesliga’s 52.

The Premier League remains the biggest supplier of talent at this World Cup. But as the race for the trophy reaches its climax, the league’s influence in the top four teams in the world is far easier to spot in the back four than the front three.