Lyle Foster absence explained for Burnley's hard-earned win against Leeds United
Burnley opted not to risk Lyle Foster for Saturday’s game against Leeds United after the striker returned from international duty with a virus.
The 24-year-old has been a regular starter for the Clarets so far this season but he was left completely out of Scott Parker’s squad at Elland Road during Burnley’s 1-0 win.
His absence came a little out of the blue given Foster had started both of South Africa’s AFCON qualifiers over the break.
Debutant Zian Flemming took his place in attack and performed well as the Clarets landed an early blow to one of their main promotion rivals.
Asked about Foster’s absence after the game, Parker explained: “He came back ill from the international break.
"He came in on Friday after literally 20 hours of flying. He came back with a virus so there wasn’t really any point of risking him.
“Also, the likelihood is, with the dynamics of the international break as it is, Flemming had been with us for the last 10 days so were able to get through some work there so we didn’t feel it was right to risk him.”
Connor Roberts also missed out after picking up a knock during Wales’ 2-1 win over Montenegro in midweek. Prior to the game Parker had admitted the right-back was a fitness doubt, but it wasn’t thought to be overly serious.
Elsewhere, Enock Agyei returned from his serious injury to be named among the bench alongside new signing John Egan.
Jordan Beyer, Hjalmar Ekdal, Hannes Delcroix, Aaron Ramsey, Manuel Benson, Nathan Redmond and Mike Tresor all remain absent.
Josh Cullen also returned from his slight knock to come on as a late substitute for Hannibal, having missed the draw with Blackburn Rovers prior to the international break.
Fellow midfielder Josh Brownhill, who had to be heavily bandaged after a nasty clash of heads, also came off late on, although that was unrelated to the incident with Joe Rodon.
“The first thing, like anything, is that protocol is always in play. The medical team are always right on hand,” Parker emphasised.
“As soon as they go on they will go through protocol. It wasn’t the reason why we brought Browny off, we just thought it had been a tough shift for him.
“Everyone in the team followed that protocol.”