The nature of Nathan Tella's injury - in the goalless draw away at Reading - is a concern for Burnley boss Vincent Kompany

The 23-year-old looked in considerable discomfort having pulled up just quarter-of-an-hour into the game at the Select Car Leasing Stadium.

Burnley's leading scorer, with 19 goals in all competitions, sustained what appeared to be a hamstring strain when attempting to keep a stray ball in play.

He signalled to the bench for treatment immediately, before being assisted off the pitch and replaced by North Macedonia international Darko Churlinov.

"That's unfortunate," said Kompany, who made six changes for the fixture in Berkshire. "I still don't know the full details of his injury, but usually it doesn't look good. I'm much more worried [about innocuous injuries].

"In reality it goes back to the point of the squad. Taylor Harwood-Bellis was key to everything we did, and he still is, but guys like [Hjalmar] Ekdal, [Ameen] Al-Dakhil, [Jordan] Beyer, Charlie Taylor, it's been happening all over the pitch. Now Nathan is not available so we'll need Benny, Anass [Zaroury] to get us over the line. It's too early [to know the extent]."

Manuel Benson was also withdrawn late on, forcing the Clarets to finish the game with 10 men, after suffering a recurring cramp issue.

However, the EFL Championship Manager of the Season nominee, wasn't quite as concerned with the Belgian's problem, and expects him to be available again soon.

He said: "It was a mix of cramp and getting kicked in an area where it tensed up. I'm not a doctor, but my old senior professional nose would tell me that it's not too bad."

Kompany was pleased with the outcome against the Royals, who are scrapping for their lives at the bottom end of the Championship.

Despite only managing a solitary shot on target after making wholesale changes to his side, the 37-year-old felt his side retained their identity.

Arijanet Muric, Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Ian Maatsen, Josh Brownhill, Anass Zaroury and Ashley Barnes missed out and Bailey Peacock-Farrell, Ameen Al-Dakhil, Charlie Taylor, Scott Twine, Benson and Lyle Foster stepped in.

Reflecting on the 0-0 draw, Kompany continued: "The biggest challenge is to see whether your team is still going to look the same, is it still going to have that same kind of identity, and there weren't any issues.

"We recovered the ball quite well, we defended well, hence the clean sheet, and I thought we looked after the ball okay. The only thing is when we got into the final third we weren't dangerous enough with the chances we created.

"We could've probably created a little bit more if the final ball was better and then it was a mixture of Reading defending really well and putting their bodies on the line, which you've got to do when you're fighting for your lives, and us being a little bit inefficient at times. I can't deny the fact that it's actually not a bad result for us.

"It can happen sometimes. I'd be more worried if we weren't creating the chances in the first place, which wasn't the case. There are other times where it has happened - against Blackpool away with a similar kind of storyline - and these teams are fighting for their lives."