SEAN Dyche will go into today’s final pre-season friendly of the summer still unsure of his starting line-up for the opening day of the Premier League season.

The Clarets face champions Chelsea a week today but Dyche said for the first time since his Turf Moor reign began nearly five years ago he is reaching the end of the summer with places in his first side of the season still up for grabs.

That makes today’s visit of Bundesliga new boys Hannover a crucial one for a lot of the Clarets squad as competition for places hots up after a summer recruitment drive that has so far seen four new arrivals.

While Dyche has looked to use this week’s European double header at Turf Moor to fine tune his side for next Saturday’s clash with Chelsea, he admits he still has a few selection posers for the trip to Stamford Bridge.

“I think this is the closest it’s been since I’ve been here when I’m looking at the team and I’m not sure it is the team,” the Clarets chief said.

“For (today) it might be a different team to the one that plays at Chelsea in two or three positions. I think there’s a few here knocking and they’ve put good markers down, so it might be the team (today) is not the team, there might be a couple of positions that change.

“That’s good, I think that’s healthy for the group and for me as manager and my coaches.”

So far this summer Charlie Taylor, Jon Walters, Jack Cork and Phil Bardsley have arrived to strengthen the ranks at Turf Moor.

Some of those new faces have added to the selection headache facing Dyche ahead of the Premier League’s big kick-off.

Taylor and Bardsley will put pressure on last season’s established full-backs Matt Lowton and Stephen Ward, while Cork will compete for places in midfield with Steven Defour, Jeff Hendrick and Ashley Westwood.

Walters can play out wide should Dyche opt for a three-man midfield, while he can also feature in attack with Sam Vokes, Andre Gray and Ashley Barnes battling for a start at the Bridge.

The strength of competition suggests another sign of progress for Dyche and Burnley, although the Turf Moor chief remains cautious.

“We’re not ready to make big, bold statements about our progress because that will be measured over a season,” he said.

“But I think if you look at a team sheet and the squad and it has just risen again, and that’s an important factor for a club like this.

“Everyone knows our story know, we never said we could make radical jumps, it’s about building and building and building and sometimes it’s tough to do that but we have to do it and that’s the nature of the club.”