SEAN Dyche is expecting to put out another 'really strong' team in the Carabao Cup third round tie tonight, despite hinting at changes to keep players sharp.

While Dyche made changes for the second round win over Blackburn Rovers at Ewood, the likes of James Tarkowski, Jack Cork and Robbie Brady did feature.

It is expected to be a similar side tonight as the Clarets face Championship leaders Leeds, but Dyche believes the gap between those starting in the Premier League and those pushing for places is so small that there will be little, if any, difference in performance level.

"It's not about resting players, it's about getting the ones that don't always play sharp, getting that sharp edge," the Turf boss said.

"The risk assessment to that is are they sharp enough to go and do the job, hopefully, then you win of course and you go through.

"If not, well they still need that sharpness because in the grand scheme of things the Premier League on the whole is bigger than the cup competitions.

"Therefore, you're going to need your group to be as sharp and as on top of their physicality and their way of playing as they can be over a season.

"These games become important for that but it doesn't do it down. It's just saying, well in our case, the margins are so fine, who I'm playing in the first team is so delicate for who isn't, I think I'll put out a team that is really strong like I did against Blackburn."

The likes of Phil Bardsley, Kevin Long, Charlie Taylor, Ashley Westwood and Jon Walters are likely to earn a start at Leeds, but Dyche is delighted with the battle for places in his side.

"The idea of a squad is that competitive edge. It doesn't mean they're miles away, it's literally paper thin for some of these situations and I think we've done really well to create that," he said.

"It's important for a club like this. We haven't got the outstanding 20 players over there and then some over here like some teams in the Premier League do have; we've got a group who we think are really tight in how good they are and who can do what for the team. I wanted it like that and that's where it's at."