SEAN Dyche believes Burnley have now recovered from the challenges of their Europa League involvement and are ready to tackle the rest of the season.

By the time the Premier League campaign had begun the Clarets had already played three competitive games – two against Aberdeen and one away to Istanbul Basaksehir - covering thousands of miles, on top of their scheduled pre-season programme.

There was an encouraging start with a goalless draw at Southampton, but after progressing through the European qualifying stages with an extra time 1-0 win over Istanbul at Turf Moor, Burnley’s domestic programme faltered with a 3-1 home defeat to Dyche’s former club Watford, while a 4-2 defeat at Fulham was sandwiched in between a two-legged defeat to Olympiakos.

The Clarets’ European dream ended in late August. But it is only now that the ramifications of their exertions have subsided.

“It’s not really getting it out of your system, it’s just that it’s so new and a different experience that it’s bound to have a change in the psyche because you’ve never been through it before, me included in that and some of the players,” explained Burnley boss Dyche.

“Steven Defour has, Azza (Aaron Lennon) and Jo (Johann Berg Gudmundsson) – they’re the only three I think.

“The peculiar feel of it, the travel, all of that. If you get anything new it does feel different.

“I don’t think it’s a case of getting it out of our system but factually it’s gone, it’s been parked. Then on the back of that we’ve had these injuries.”

Burnley are without goalkeeper Nick Pope, defenders James Tarkowski, Ben Gibson and Stephen Ward, while fit-again Defour and Gudmundsson were taken off as a precaution against Leicester following knocks.

“Really what I’m waiting for and hoping for is everyone getting fit, and then we’ve got that in-house competitive element and then the games programme of course,” Dyche said.“That would be a great marker because if you look at it we haven’t had that all season.

“That’s a real marker when we go ‘Right, okay, where are we as a group going?’

“In the meantime we’re fighting hard and working to get points on the board to make sure that we’re intact for that period when everyone is available, because eventually everyone gets a level playing field when they’re all fit and well.”

But despite their domestic difficulties in the aftermath of their European adventures, Dyche said he would not trade their Europa League experience.

“I still wouldn’t take away the experience but it does challenge you,” he said. “It is well documented about everyone that goes into the competition. We knew that. But I was thinking ‘come on, let’s have our version of it’.

“Then when you go through it and you look back and you reflect on it you understand why it’s well documented, you understand why all the managers come out of it and go ‘massive challenge’. Not so much for the super powers because they’ve got that many players they just change the team. Don’t get me wrong, it still affects them, but it doesn’t affect them as heavily.

“We went four games with 16 players. Dwight McNeil played in two, and I think Dwight’s a very good player and he continues to develop, but the point is that’s what we were down to. I think that shows where our squad was at, at that time. It’s difficult.”