Sean Dyche has been moaning once again but has taken his hypocrisy to new levels by claiming his players only dive because others do it.

We all know the score. You play Burnley, they cheat, dive, play-act and kick, then Sean Dyche comes out at the end of the game and moans about Arsenal doing all those things.

After the sides met in March, all the focus was on Alexandre Lacazette screaming too loudly for the media’s liking, egged on, of course, by Dyche. There was no mention of the dives from Burnley players in that game or any of the other antics the Clarets got up to while Lacazette was mocked extensively on Match of the Day, prompting Ian Wright to reach out to the forward.

So, of course, Dyche condemns diving in his own players as much as he does other sides, right?

Well, not exactly.

It seems that when his players do it, they are only doing it because so many others throw themselves about.

“The message is clearly the opposite; it’s go down and scream because if you go down and scream you get the decision,” Dyche replied when asked if he could continue to urge his players to be honest.

“Weirdly it’s probably the only sport in the world that actively introduces the idea of actually working to get fouls and penalties.

“No one really wants to clean it up, therefore I have got to be careful because I am going to cost my team points by telling them not to go down. Now that’s a bizarre situation to be in.

“I can’t cost these players their futures by not gaining penalties and free-kicks that others do, that would be absurd.

“I have got to be careful with my own team and not make them too clean with the game because the game is saying don’t be.

“The game is saying get on the floor as many times as you can and make as much noise as you can, you will have a better chance of winning the game. But I don’t encourage it, I assure you.”

Funny how that logic never extends to his opponents.

For the record, in terms of yellow cards this season, Burnley have 39 while Arsenal have 43 despite Dyche’s side committing 318 fouls to Arsenal’s 279. On average, Arsenal need 6.5 fouls to get a yellow, Burnley 8.2.

They have also not seen red this season while Arsenal have had five sent off.