Steven Defour

Defour (knee) is stepping up his recovery as he attempts to return to match action. "I don't want to put timescales on it, but he is working hard with the physios and his body is holding up so far," explained manager Sean Dyche. "He seems in a good place and it's been hard. He has had a rotten run with his knee and his calf on the back of it, and every time he got close, he's just broke down. But he looks stronger and hopefully that will continue to go well."

Defour (knee) will not be available for Saturday's match against Southampton. "Stevie still has a longer term view of coming back to true fitness," manager Sean Dyche said Thursday. "He knows that we think a lot of him, but he's had a real tough time of it. And true fitness is being out there training every day, super-fit, running, training and playing. He's quite a way behind that at the moment, so that will come next."

Defour (knee) has yet to return to full training as he works back from injury, Chris Boden of the Burnley Express reports.

Defour finished last season with a long-term calf injury that he hopes to recover from by next season.

Defour underwent surgery on his calf and is expected to miss the remainder of the 2018-19 campaign.