Burnley boss Sean Dyche backs his players to produce

But Sean Dyche has backed his group of players to continue to confound expectations at the top level.

Two top-10 finishes in three seasons hasn’t pushed the Clarets out of a group of clubs expected by the bookmakers and some pundits to be in the battle to avoid the drop.

The club’s lack of transfer activity so far in the window – which closes a fortnight on Monday – has added to such fears.

Dyche, however, feels his current squad continue to develop and move forward without the stimulus of new faces, and insists they are to be written off at your peril.

He said: “I’ve said many times, every season is a restart – we had a lot of challenges at the end of the season, losing players – we haven’t added to that so far, and there are no guarantees to every season we are in the Premier League, that’s for sure.

“You have to work hard for everything, every inch of what we get here.

“I just think if you’re going on those guidelines (thinking you are top 10), that’s when you have to invest heavily.

“You see the growth in clubs, often, not always, they invest year on year on year, to then find that level they think is appropriate and see if they can go beyond that.

“That’s not the case here, we have to remodel, replan every season, with an open mind to take on the challenge.

“Every club has to find a way to be as strong, if not stronger, than the previous season, money or no money.

“You do that through development of your players, education of players, their own personal development – how they are moving forward.

“But, of course, it is appropriate in our case, we have to invest in the side because we’ve lost players.

“It is a numbers game and also supporting the group we’ve got.

“We can only give so much support as a staff, eventually, it’s a good feeling when you see someone come in and think ‘let’s see what they’ve got to offer’.

“It pushes the group as well. It’s not just coaching style or methods, often it’s that challenge that comes with putting new bodies into a group, that stimulus that comes when you see another challenge, another threat if you like, coming your way.

“Players often respond to that.”

He has a group of players, though, who are increasingly well versed in knowing how to pick up results in the Premier League: “I think we work on realities and know the challenges. Our players are fantastic within that, when players left the building last season, they stayed focused on the job.

“We’ve been knocked a few times down the years and the players have responded to that, so they deserve massive amounts of credit.

“I’ve always said you can only give good information and guide players to where they want to be, improving and developing, and I think we’ve done well with that.

“The challenges that come our way, we’re kind of used to, we know we continually need support, because that’s just the way it is in the Premier League.

“But sometimes that support can be at least started, and it always is here, in house, with what we can provide the players, how they can look at each other to provide themselves and the team, and then we build on the back of that.

“I believe in whatever group I’ve had here, so that’s a given.

“Outside of that, we obviously have lost numbers, with decisions made, and I made it clear my thoughts on that at the time, that hasn’t changed - you do need players, and we still do.”

“I can’t make the decisions, I can only advise, and the advice is still there of what we should do.

“By no means over-stretch the club, but stretch it in a manner that is appropriate that continues to build and move forward.”