Burnley boss Sean Dyche is happy with his goalkeeper options.

Dyche believes his trio of goalkeepers are pushing each other on to new heights - but Tom Heaton is almost certain to retain number one status once he has overcome his calf injury.

Despite Heaton's position at the top of the tree Dyche is confident stand-in Paul Robinson and third-choice Nick Pope are aware of the goalkeeping pecking order at the club at the moment.

“There's a natural hierarchy among goalkeepers and I'd be surprised if they didn't expect Tom to play, from the beginning of the season," he told the Lancashire Evening Telegraph.

“Has he played well? Yes. Therefore most keepers understand the rules of being a goalie - you keep your shirt. There's a fight off for the second shirt but I've explained to Pope that he's got a bigger, longer future ahead than this moment in time.

“He's working with two top class goalies and a top class goalkeeping coach. He is developing and moving forward all the time.

“Tom over time has proven himself and you can't play as many games as he has, play as consistently as he has, played the level he's been at for us, himself and the team for that long, and not have a fair shout of going straight back in.

“I don't do 'guarantees' but he's as close to that as you can look at in our team. He's had game after game of high level delivery."