Jurgen Klopp has jumped to Daniel Sturridge’s defence following comments from Sean Dyche and insisted the Liverpool striker is no cheat.

Burnley’s manager went on the offensive on Thursday after his side had been beaten 3-1 and claimed that Sturridge had gone down “with nothing near him” in order to win a free-kick.

Those comments came after Klopp had articulated his unhappiness about some heavy tackles from Burnley’s players during a game in which Liverpool defender Joe Gomez was left with a fractured leg after a collision with Ben Mee.

Dyche labelled that challenge “fantastic” before a bulletin was released on Gomez’s condition but Klopp felt his opposite number’s approach was designed to be a diversionary tactic.

Liverpool’s manager said: “Daniel Sturridge is no cheat. I think what Sean tried to do there is to bring up another subject so somebody could speak about that. I’m not sure if he spoke about the challenge of [Phil] Bardsley on Alberto Moreno?

“What do we talk about? We all have our own interests and aims? What can I say? After that game they are talking about one situation where a player goes down without contact, I don’t know if the referee even judged it?

“It was a normal situation which can happen, sometimes a striker expects a tackle and tries to avoid it by jumping? I can’t avoid it if people want to discuss Daniel. But, on the other side, I said what I had to say about that after the game, and different opinions are allowed obviously.”