There can't be many people who haven't been impressed with Burnley's rise from relegation battlers to top four challengers this season but L'Equipe have made some staggeringly controversial suggestions about the makeup of their team.
Whilst Pep Guardiola's Manchester City have been squashing everyone before them in a manner no one else has done before in the Premier League it's still arguably Sean Dyche's Burnley who have been the most impressive team.
Last season the Clarets barely won a point away from home and had to rely on their home form to finish above the relegation places, in the end six points clear in 16th.
Burnley players celebrate in front of their fans after opening day win against Chelsea. Image: PA Images.
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This season though Sean Dyche's side have been impressive everywhere, beating Chelsea away and picking up points at Wembley and Anfield too.
Before kick off on Saturday they start seventh in the Premier League but whilst everyone else is impressed by Burnley, the French press clearly are not.
L'Equipe ran a controversial piece about the side on Christmas Eve suggesting that the team was 100% on purpose, using the local Brexit result and 2001 race riots in the city as proof.
The headline in the French paper just two days ago. Image: PA Images.
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The piece referred to players as having 'flattened noses' and 'large ears' before really going in on the makeup of the squad and even targeting Dyche's appearance.
The story reads, "(They are) coached by a ginger Englishman, in a city who voted 70% for Brexit and which has been the breeding ground of racial tensions.
"Formed with 80% British players and 100% white players, Burnley is the surprise team of the season. 40 kilo-meters north of Manchester, everything is from another century.
"Burnley's team photo is such a programme. Guys with short hair, flattened noses, big ears, ready to fight, who seems to announce their style of play on Saturday afternoon and their lifestyle as Saturday night. There is no single black player in the squad of the 7th-ranked in Premier League, coached by a ginger English-man Sean Dyche (46 years old). And it's as difficult to believe that's premonition as it's coincidence.
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"There is not a single black player in the seventh team in the Premier League, led by a red-haired Englishman, Sean Dyche. In fact, there was a colored player in the early season photo, Daniel Agyei, but he was loaned to Walsall."
It makes for incredible reading!
What do you think of L'Equipe's claim?
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