Burnley's Boyd set to return for United game
(Reuters) - Burnley midfielder George Boyd is set to return to their squad to face Manchester United at Old Trafford on Saturday after recovering from a knee injury, manager Sean Dyche has said.
Boyd has been a mainstay in Burnley's side this season, playing in eight of their nine league games, but missed last weekend's win over Everton after suffering a knee injury against Southampton.
Dyche, however, said Burnley's record signing Steven Defour, who suffered a hamstring strain against Southampton, was a doubt for the match.
"I think Boydy will be fine. He trained today for the first time, though, so we will see how he reacts tomorrow," Dyche said on Thursday.
"Steven Defour is touch and go. That will be partly our decision to make sure he's right and really well enough if we do that."
Dyche added that the return of Andre Gray, who was banned for four games for homophobic comments he made on social media, added to Burnley's strength in depth.
"We want to have that scratch your head moment of 'which way are we going to go with it?'" he added.
"And we have shown a bit of flexibility with that, which we felt we had to do. Everyone knows I like to play with two strikers. But you have to format the team you think can operate to get you the result.
"We have changed that slightly and I think it's gone pretty well so far."
Burnley, who are 14th in the table, have lost their three league away games, which Dyche said was down to a tough run of fixtures.
"I questioned the Southampton performance, but if you look at our first four away games, I think that is a really hard run for any team, whether you're established at this level or new to it like we are," he added.
"We have to be realistic and know the market we are in. It's a big challenge, but one we look forward to."
(Reporting by Nivedita Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Toby Davis)