Daniel Sturridge leaps to Raheem Sterling's defence after he was dropped from Chelsea's matchday squad - but Micah Richards questions decision to release statement before kick-off

Daniel Sturridge has leapt to the defence of Raheem Stering after a statement emerged on the back of the forward being left out of Chelsea's squad to play Manchester City.

Sterling was a surprise omission from the 18 that new Blues boss Enzo Maresca selected to take on the champions on opening weekend, with the game finished 2-0 to City.

Maresca both before and after the game defended his call to leave the former England man out on tactical grounds, insisting he had to make the tough decision of which players to exclude from the squad.

In a statement exclusively published by Mail Sport, the attacker's representatives - when approached for comment - indicated that his omission from Sunday's squad that faced Manchester City was unexpected, released just minutes before Sunday's game kicked off.

Sky Sports pundit Sturridge, meanwhile, defended his former team-mate's ability and drive to get into the Blues side, but fell short of agreeing with the timing of the statement.

'I want to say that I have a lot of love and respect for Raheem Sterling as a football player' Sturridge began. 'As a guy, he a young brother of mine.

'The timing's not great, especially on the day of the game. But he will feel he's good enough to help Chelsea Football Club.

'In his mind, he's probably thinking, "Going up against City today, my old club, get out there". I think there's probably surprised by not being involved.

'I don't agree with it, with the message going out on the daily game. Obviously, it's not good timing, but Raheem Sterling, in my opinion, is a good enough player to be in Chelsea squad.'

Fellow pundit Micah Richards was a little harsher in his assessment of the actions, slamming the former City man.

The statement from Sterling's camp read: 'Raheem Sterling is contracted to Chelsea Football Club for the next three years.

'He returned to England two weeks early to conduct individual training, and has had a positive pre-season under the new coach, who he has developed a good working relationship with.

'He is committed, as ever, to delivering at the highest level for Chelsea FC and the fans, who he holds in high regard, and given his inclusion in official club pre-match material this week, our expectation was that Raheem would be involved in this weekend's fixture in some capacity.

'As a camp, we have always had positive dialogue with, and assurance from, Chelsea FC in relation to Raheem's future at the club, so we look forward to gaining clarity on the situation.

'Until then, we will continue to support Raheem's desire to start the new season positively.'

Richards responded to Sturridge, who seemed to become agitated with Richards' defence and questioned whether he thought his assessment was fair: 'We've all been left out, though, haven't we? We've all been left out, and we'd all want to put statements out, but Raheem and his team know exactly what they're doing.

'They're trying to make noise. There was a lot of noise around the club anyway. Everyone's talking about the players, everyone's talking about the ownership, everyone's talking about, can we even guess Chelsea's starting 11? Putting that statement out before the game is not good enough.

' love Raheem as a player. Interviewed him, really nice guy, but that doesn't matter. We're talking about the facts of today. That is not going to help your team-mates, and it's probably not going to help his case of getting back into the team.'