Dyche hoping to replicate home form
Burnley host West Brom on Saturday in their first home game of the new Premier League season, having won 10 of their 19 outings in front of their own supporters last term.
The Clarets picked up 33 of their 40 points at Turf Moor last season, and, after earning a first away win at the first attempt, in stunning style at champions Chelsea last Saturday, Dyche smiled: “Away form is the new home form with the hipsters isn’t it?!
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Hide Ad“But seriously, if you look through the Premier League years, the teams who are not the front runners have to do well at home.
“We obviously want to do well at home and away, but we would like to have a similar record at home this season, and be strong and effective on the road as well, more so than last season.
“But you always want to do well in front of your own supporters.”
Dyche went in with a 4-5-1 system, or a version of, at Chelsea, but will he go with the same at home?: “People forget we used that system early last season, and did reasonably well, and we morphed back to two strikers, so it’s about finding that balance and having a healthy mixture.
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Hide Ad“We can play both more freely, and have round pegs in round holes.
“It’s nice to have options – we did last year, but we should be able to work slightly better with the two systems this year.”
Dyche has no injury problems, other than long-term absentee Dean Marney, but Phil Bardsley has trained all week after a stomach bug last weekend.
Dyche expects West Brom to be typically tough opponents tomorrow: “They are a strong unit, Tony (Pulis) has a group there with real depth of experience, they are a big side, and work heavy on set pieces.
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Hide Ad“It’s not something we don’t know about, but you have too deal with it.
“They are working in the maket at a level not dissimilar to us, not throwing money at it, but Gareth Barry is gone in this week, another older, wiser player – Tony’s sides often have that.
“Both teams have morphed slightly from the end of last season, but both have similar traits to deal with, without being carbon copies of last year.”