Chris Wood will come good insists Burnley boss Sean Dyche

But the New Zealand international striker has struggled to find the net as regularly as his record with Burnley would suggest, netting only two in 14 appearances in all competitions this season, before tonight’s game at Aston Villa.

He ended last season with four in seven, scoring in each of his last three games – including a nerveless late penalty he won himself to earn a point at Turf Moor against Monday’s visitors Wolves.

The 29-year-old is a one in three man since signing from Leeds in the summer of 2017 for £15m, hitting 40 in 121 appearances.

And boss Sean Dyche has backed him to come through his current sequence.

He is getting into the positions to score, with Jordan Pickford twice denying him in the 1-1 draw with Everton, while he missed a big chance to open the scoring in the 1-0 win at Arsenal.

And Dyche said: “I think there’s a number of players who have had moments where we could have done better, but equally, I believe those chances will go in.

“I’ve always said about players getting in the right areas to score.

“The actual moment of truth where you put the ball in the back of the net is the hardest bit, for me.

“I’ve never questioned that part, it’s getting in the positions to score.

“Our strikers are getting in the areas to score, other players as well.

“I thought we were a real threat again from set pieces at Arsenal, obviously we nicked what eneded up being an own goal, but the delivery was excellent.

“However goals come is important to us, and I’m pretty sure as long as our players keep getting in the right areas to score, goals will come more freely.”

Dyche has no doubt the goals will flow again for Wood: “He’s working hard at his game, and when you do that, it usually pays you back, keep working hard, keep getting in the right areas.

“We know he can score goals, his record clearly suggests that, so when strikers have a kind of quiet spell, statistically, it’s getting closer to you scoring again.

“That’s the way football works, if you keep doing your job, statistically goals will start coming back your way.

“If you have a time when you’re not scoring – I wasn’t a striker, but with a striker’s mentality, I would be thinking the next one is going in, because the stats will start coming your way.”