STEVEN Defour’s hamstring injury is not as bad as first feared but the Belgium midfielder will miss Burnley’s Turf Moor clash with Everton this weekend.

The 28-year-old came off in the first half of the 3-1 defeat to Southampton last weekend and while scans have shown the injury to be fairly straightforward, he will still face a spell on the sidelines.

“Defour has got a hamstring, it’s pretty straightforward, we’re pleased with it,” said Clarets chief Sean Dyche.

“Hamstrings can be quite serious at times so we’re not expecting a huge layoff, but he won't be ready for this week and we’ll take it from there.”

Asked if Defour might be back in time to face Manchester United at Old Trafford a week on Saturday, Dyche added: “We’ll see how it settles down. Different people have different healing rates, Steven is new to us so we don’t know about that type of thing but we’re hoping it's pretty straightforward.”

One player close to a return to action is Ashley Barnes. He came through 45 minutes for the development squad in midweek, his first taste of action since suffering a hamstring injury in July during the pre-season win over Bradford.

“Barnesy is doing well, we’re hopeful he’s over the final part of the injury,” said Dyche.

“It was just niggling on and he couldn’t quite get rid of it but it’s settling down.

“He played 45 during the week so we’ll build on that next week. He’s building up his game fitness so his general fitness is good, he’s managed to tick over in recent weeks.

“We’re hopeful he’ll get another game in next week and see where we’re at.”