Burnley boss Sean Dyche has confirmed midfielder Steven Defour will miss the rest of the season after undergoing surgery on his calf.
The former Belgium international suffered a serious knee injury during the middle of last season and, despite returning in September, a number of niggling issues have disrupted his first-team involvement and he has, therefore, only featured nine times across all competitions.
Indeed, only two of those appearances have come since the turn of the year and Dyche has now confirmed the 30-year-old has undergone surgery on a calf issue that is likely to rule him out for the rest of the season. “He was going so well last year and had a knee situation,” Dyche told reporters. “The knock-on effect is that he has had little injuries that sometimes happen.
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“The calf situation was one too many and the specialist thought it was best to deal with the long-term view of it.” Burnley will travel to Anfield on Sunday to take on title-chasing Liverpool and they have no fresh injury concerns, although, like Defour, winger Aaron Lennon remains on the sidelines with a knee injury.
The Clarets have lost their last two league games against Newcastle and Crystal Palace and will head into the weekend just five points above the relegation zone.
