'Vaccination is the way forward for football' - Burnley boss Sean Dyche

Boss Sean Dyche revealed his players have been hit by the rising number of cases, along with the number of injury problems his squad currently has.

But he will be able to put out at least the minimum 14 players required to play the fixture.

Dyche said: "We have a couple of cases, which will affect us over the coming days. It's not just having an individual case, it's that and having people around that case, who therefore have to shut down, and the knock-on effect of that is when a game comes round, they might not have trained for seven to 10 days without any symptoms.

"It's a tough challenge for all. Certainly it will affect us with the injuries as well, we haven't had too many injuries but we have them, and we're having to be wise and re-pod the players and push the rules as hard as we can, on a commonsense basis, to stop any future trouble.

"Everytime you lock down five or six players waiting for the re-test, then they get re-tested, because of the window, by the time the second re-test comes around, they haven't trained.

"If that happens three or four times over three or four weeks, you might be putting out a team that's only trained a handful of days over that period., and that affects the competitive element of the league and the sport in general."

In terms of Saturday's game, he clarified: "I know the general rule of thumb is getting 14 players out there to be active.

"We would like to fulfil that, and at this stage I think we will be fulfilling that.

"It might not be the 14 you always expect to see, but I think we can go beyond 14, certainly today (Thursday).

"We will certainly be fulfilling the right team to go on and take on MK Dons as I sit here today."

And Dyche feels the answer to the growing amount of cases in general, but certainly in football, could be to put the money spent on twice-weekly Premier League testing to vaccinations.

The EFL estimated this week that the bill for the rest of the season to fund weekly Covid-19 testing will be £5m, and Dyche feels that could be put to better use potentially.

He isn't talking about jumping the queue above the NHS, key workers and the vulnerable, but said: "My view, and I’m not saying it’s the view, but vaccination is the way forward for football.

“I can only talk for the Premier League because I’m in the Premier League, but it would be good for football.

“I appreciate some people will be surprised by that comment, but if you think about it, we’re all going to get vaccinated, we all wanted football back, the cash it generates through tax, the well-being it generates has been seen, the obvious most high-profile one is Marcus Rashford and what he achieved.

“There’s a lot of good come through football, so if you think of the amount of vaccinations across the country, the amount that would be needed in football and the finance.

“You look at the amount spent on testing in the Premier League, then that money could be channelled back into the NHS and into the vaccination system, then surely that’s a better place to be than just continually testing a load of footballers two or three times a week.

“I appreciate some people will say why should footballers get vaccinated etc, etc.

“But say 20 Premier League clubs with 100 people vaccinated, the payback to the NHS and the vaccination system would be considerable.

“If you vaccinate, you don’t need to keep testing and so the testing diminishes, and that money could be used for a much-better cause and football would stay a competitive industry rather than one that might end up a skewed industry because of players missing games.

“I just think it’s a common sense view. I appreciate there will be people who disagree with me wholeheartedly.

“But I just feel the balance between getting vaccinations to footballers quicker, the payback would be enormous by comparison.”

He added: “If the money being put into testing in football, vaccination by comparison is a very low cost. That money could be put back into the vaccination system to help the people on the frontline get more vaccinations.

“I’m talking about say 2,000 vaccinations for the Premier League. I’n not remotely saying that should be put in front of the welfare of the people who are vulnerable, or NHS workers, of course I’m not saying that.

“I’m saying is there a timeline where we could fast-track to that period because logically if would do more good putting the funding for testing into the system to encourage more vaccinations. That money could be used more wisely so the country gets better quicker.”

In terms of his squad, Dyche is expected to be without Charlie Taylor, Dwight McNeil and Jay Rodriguez, but could welcome back Johann Berg Gudmundsson, Matej Vydra and Jack Cork.