Burnley captain Ben Mee to miss key clash with Fulham at Turf Moor

The centre back was replaced late on in the 3-0 win at Crystal Palace on Saturday - although not as one of the two newly-available concussion substitutions now available - after taking Jordan Ayew's shoulder flush to the temple.

Mee dropped to the floor, and was stretchered off after treatment, and after studying the footage of the incident, he will be out for six days, ruling him out of what could be a key clash, with the Clarets eight points clear of the Cottagers, who occupy the last spot in the relegation zone.

Boss Sean Dyche explained: "He's fine, but we still have to follow the protocols, the medical protocols, so he won't be available.

"He's fine in himself, but we understand why they (the protocols) are there, to safeguard the players.

"It's very difficult for medical teams now because there are that many rules, rightly so by the way, to make sure players are safe, and to get on there quickly to affect things, and they have to be cautious, but it was a strange one, because five minutes later he came walking up behind me while we were watching the game.

"Good that he did come walking behind me, and he was pretty clear afterwards he was fine, but the medical teams have to make sure the players are right, and they certainly did."

Mee hasn't shown any concussion symptoms since, but Dyche added: "He wasn't sure himself when he went down, so they've had to use the footage to make sure, then there is concussion testing afterwards.

"It's the precautionary timescale they use, six days, he's fine and has been ever since, but they had to look at the footage and decide whether he went out, even if it was five seconds or whatever, so we'll have to go with the medical protocols obviously."

Mee's absence adds to Dyche's injury concerns, with Erik Pieters later forced off with a tight groin, while Matej Vydra sat out the match with a hamstring strain: "Erik Pieters came off, I don't think he's that serious but it will be touch and go because of the speed of the turnaround.

"Matej Vydra isn't serious, so that's good news on the scan, but again it's a bit of a quick turnaround.

"Charlie Taylor is making good progress and has trained for a few days with us, so therefore it's likely he comes back into the thinking, and Woody (Chris Wood) will be a risk scenario - we've had to go the safe side of the risks because we keep losing players, but we're hopeful he's getting better, but will probably make a decision on that ourselves rather than leave it to the player.

"Dale Stephens has a knock as well so we'll have to wait on him."