Dyche hoping to expose Chelsea's flaws

Pundits such as Danny Murphy and Graeme Souness have been heard suggesting that Antonio Conte’s league leaders are close to perfection but the Burnley boss is ready to expose the myth that Chelsea don’t have any weaknesses.

There’s no denying that the Blues are in fine form, winning 13 of their last 15 top flight outings which has opened up a nin-point aperture at the summit.

Chelsea have also kept nine clean sheets in that spell while scoring 32 goals at the other end with Spurs, Manchester City and Arsenal all being swept aside.

However, Dyche is confident of finding a way. “One of the pundits was saying that they couldn’t see anything,” he said. “Sometimes it’s difficult. Weaknesses? I don’t know. How do you define it?

“They’ve lost some games, not many. They have conceded some goals, not many. I think it’s 12 clean sheets. It’s difficult to detect in a lot of top sides, they all have their varying styles and it’s difficult to find any individual weaknesses.

“The beauty of football is that even if you can’t find them sometimes they just occur. Sometimes it’s not about defining every weakness, it’s allowing your team to play to find a weakness. That’s part of the challenge of football and I think we do that reasonably well.”

The Turf Moor chief added: “We never do blind faith, there’s no point. Blind faith is useless to me. I told my players that they are a good side and you’re going to hear a lot about them. And they are a good side, they have some good individuals.

“There is always a ‘but’, though. Why does football change? Why do teams win? Why do underdogs beat the favourites? Why does it happen? It’s because ways are found for that to happen.

“Our job is to find a way even against teams where pundits are telling me that they don’t have a weakness. We have to find a way. Nobody thought Liverpool had a weakness until recently.

“That’s a side who were absolutely flying and then a couple of things happen and it just kind of knocks people off kilter and off their senses.

“Sometimes you just need a twist of fate outside, a decision, a good performance from one of your key players, you need them to have a quiet day. There can be all these different things out of their control.”

Meanwhile, Dyche heaped praise on three-time Manager of the Month, Conte, for the impact that the former Juventus midfielder has had at Stamford Bridge since taking over.

The Italian has transformed the club, taking them from the 10th place finish they had under the combination of Jose Mourinho and Guus Hiddink last term, to potential champions.

Chelsea did spend around £120m on players in the summer, including Michy Batshuayi, N’Golo Kante, Marcos Alonso and David Luiz, but Conte has the rest of the squad hitting their full potential.

“I think the biggest thing is activating a fine group of players; I think he had a fine group of players anyway,” he said. “It’s how you get them to work and I think that has been the breakthrough. He’s found a formula and a shape that has fitted with the players.

“That’s a great part of management because it doesn’t happen by chance. He’s looked at it with his staff and thought that it was nearly right but not quite so how can we flex it.

“He seems to have got better performances out of some players and adapted it and they’ve looked like a super strong side.

“Management comes in many different ways and part of the managers overview is finding those things that can make a difference.

“He’s obviously done that very wellto get that shape to work and to find a shape that fits his team. It’s certainly fitting his team at the moment.”