Dyche set to ring changes again for Europa tie

Dyche has tried to balance out his players’ workload in Europe so far, taking Sunday’s Premier League opener at Southampton into consideration.

And he will rotate again for the third qualifying round second leg, with the tie finely poised after a goal-less draw at the Fatih Terim Stadium.

In Istanbul, Dyche made six changes from the team which beat Aberdeen 3-1 after extra time, bringing in Joe Hart for his debut, swapping his full backs, and starting Jon Walters, Jeff Hendrick and Ashley Barnes.

He made another four changes for the goal-less draw at St Mary’s, as Matt Lowton and Stephen Ward returned, along with Chris Wood and Aaron Lennon.

Dyche is still without Robbie Brady and Steven Defour, while Matej Vydra and Tom Heaton were due to play behind closed doors yesterday evening against Cardiff Under 23s in the Professional Development League at Turf Moor.

Dyche said: “It’s squad depth – at the minute we’re down to a group which is more or less our minimum.

“We’ve still got Vyds, Steven Defour, Robbie Brady to get fit, Barnesy hasn’t had a 90 minutes, Tom Heaton, in three and a half weeks.

“There are still players getting back to full fitness, so that will obviously add to our depth.

“But at the minute we are working with a group which is a bit skinny.

“There were only two people not involved at Southampton, and one of those was a young player in Dwight McNeil, so that’s where we’re at.

“If we had everyone fully fit, I would probably make more changes, but we haven’t.

“Therefore we have to use the players we’ve got wisely and still be competitive, as we have been.”

Dyche had hoped to bring in more than three signings in the transfer window, landing Ben Gibson – also due to featre last night, Vydra and Hart: “We probably wanted one or two more, but we’re pleased with the ones we’ve got, that’s for sure, and the demand from the group, to still keep on their standards.”