Chelsea didn't sign their first Premier League African player until Celestine Babayaro in the 1998-99 season.

With the African Cup of Nations starting next Saturday, the Trinity Mirror Data Unit have taken a look back at the number of African players in the Premier League each season since 1992.

In all, the Blues have had a total of 11 different African players during the Premier League era.

They include Didier Drogba, Michael Essien, and Geremi to name but a few.

Elsewhere in west London, Fulham have had a total of 17 African players - one of the highest numbers in the country - while playing in the Premier League and QPR have had eight.

When the Premier League started back in 1992, just four players hailed from the African continent - Peter Ndlovu, George Ndah, Efan Ekoku and Bruce Grobbelaar.

However, by the 1999-2000 season, that had shot up to 18 and continued to rise to a peak of 65 in the 2007-08 season.

Since then though, the numbers have been steadily falling.

By 2010-11 the number had dropped to 56 while in 2012-13 it was as low as 40.

This season the number stands slightly higher at 46, subject to any transfer activity in the January window.

Nigeria has provided the highest number of players with 31 in total.

That's followed by Senegal (25), Cameroon (24), Ivory Coast (20) and Ghana (19).

A player's nationality was determined firstly by the country who they played for at international level (so Patrick Vieira counts as French) and then by the country in which they were born.