Burnley manager Sean Dyche has urged caution with the use of academy players in the club's remaining Premier League fixtures.

With the Clarets' squad decimated by injuries and players out of contract, he was unable to pick the full complement of nine substitutes for Monday's game at Manchester City, with the bench mostly consisting of youngsters who had never played a first team match.

Max Thompson did make his debut with a brief appearance towards the end of the 5-0 defeat, while Dyche indicated in yesterday's press conference that he, Bobby Thomas and Mace Goodridge could all make the squad for this evening's clash against Watford.

However, the manager does not want to throw them in at the deep end too early, saying: "They’re not ready yet. They’re good young pros who want to make good careers, but they haven’t had the relative experience yet.

"That’s why we’ve been stretched, because the chairman wants me to introduce the young players in and integrate them, but we don’t want to rush them in." [via Lancashire Live]

Dyche has the Premier League's second smallest and second oldest squad, with his 24-man group boasting an average age of 29.3 - only Crystal Palace have a smaller and older squad in the division. [via TransferMarkt]

Burnley's bench against Manchester City consisted of goalkeepers Bailey Peacock-Farrell and Lukas Jensen, Jimmy Dunne (none of whom has played for their first team), Erik Pieters, Kevin Long (who has played just two league minutes in 2019/20), Thompson (who came on for his senior debut) and Thomas (who has never played at senior level).

That septet of substitutes starkly reflected just how stretched Dyche's options were and, although Phil Bardsley has since agreed a new deal at the club while Ashley Barnes, Chris Wood, Johann Berg Gudmundsson and Robbie Brady could all return from injury, the manager is indeed working off a threadbare group of players compared to other Premier League clubs.

Dyche's reluctance to throw raw youngsters like Thompson and Thomas up against seasoned Premier League professionals is understandable, given their complete lack of senior experience at any grade, never mind the top flight.

However, it is worth remembering that a teenage Dwight McNeil was thrust into the Burnley team against West Ham last season and responded with an eye-catching, goal-scoring display (as per BBC), subsequently going on to establish himself as a first team regular.

His example shows that players from the Clarets' academy can thrive at this level and, with the club free of any realistic relegation threat, now seems a better time than ever to blend in some of the talented youngsters with their more experienced counterparts to get them acclimatised to Premier League football in a relatively pressure-free setting.

Burnley fans, do you want to see more of youngsters like Thompson getting first team minutes between now and the end of the season, or is Dyche right to be cautious with them? Have your say by commenting below!