SEAN DYCHE says the gap between the Premier League and the Football League is bigger than ever but he will treat MK Dons just as he would Manchester United.

The Clarets host the League One outfit in the third round of the FA Cup this afternoon, three days before United arrive at Turf Moor for their rearranged Premier League fixture.

And Dyche insists both games are as important as each other.

“We treat every game with equal importance. I’ve said that throughout my time here,” said the Clarets boss. “We do things diligently and wisely, and we’ve had them watched by our scouts twice, and we do all the analysis on the screens. We do the work we feel is proper for any opposition.

“It’s important for us to do that properly with the players, making sure they are aware of the opposition threats, and aware of what we feel we can do to influence the game and win it.

“So we treat this game as though it’s just as important as the next Premier League game.

“The feedback we got on MK was that they like to be expansive, to get forward, and that’s something we face a lot in the Premier League.

“We still have to counter that and play our own game, make sure that’s effective. We like to press teams, to get after the opposition, but not in a naive way.

“You have to make sure you don’t get caught out pushing on too far, but our players are well used to that.”

Despite that obvious gap between the Premier League and the rest, Dyche says the mindset has to be right to avoid being on the wrong side of a cup upset. 

“The gap between the Premier League and the other clubs has definitely got bigger over the years,” he added. “But that doesn’t stop the upsets happening. It doesn’t stop the magic of the cup, as we still like to call it.

“It depends on the mindset on any given day, the right level of performance from yourselves, the other team maybe playing above themselves. All those things have to be factored in.”

He added: “I think the balance between the Premier League and the rest has shifted even more over the last three or four years, mainly down to finance of course, and it just keeps edging away from the other divisions.”