Gudjohnsen wades in to ref row

Chelsea’s Icelandic striker Eidur Gudjohnsen has today joined the row over Thierry Henry’s quickly-taken free kick by accusing referee Graham Poll of going back on a promise to blow the whistle before allowing the game to restart.

Henry put Arsenal 2-1 in front with the controversial set-piece which left Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech stranded on the wrong post as he tried to organise a wall in front of him. Cech has already made some disparaging remarks about Poll’s decision but Gudjohnsen has now added to the row by claiming he told Chelsea’s players that he would blow his whistle.

However, there was no whistle and Poll allowed Henry to curl the ball into an unguarded net, to the fury of Chelsea and their manager Jose Mourinho.

Poll has already insisted that he did not need to blow his whistle but Gudjohnsen insists that was not the case presented on the pitch.

The striker was the closest Chelsea player to the incident and says Poll helped Henry so much that it was like watching a training ground routine. Gudjohnsen said: “We asked the referee to blow the whistle and he told one of our players what he was going to do.

“I saw in Henry’s reaction that he didn’t want the whistle and in the end it looked like a set-piece from the training ground, where one player stands in front of the ball and just jumps out of the way.

“Sometimes they go for you and sometimes they go against but luckily Arsenal didn’t gain any points on us because of something like that.”

Mourinho is still incensed and feels Chelsea fans should not be satisfied with a draw that keeps them five points ahead of Arsenal.

He added: “The game had a dark moment and it’s difficult to forget that. The way both teams fought and performed made the result fair but Chelsea scored two goals and Arsenal only scored one.”

Poll again grabbed the chance to defend his decision by writing about the controversial issue in his column for the Daily Telegraph.

Poll said: “It came as some disappointment when phone-ins and the messages I received indicated that Henry’s second goal, the free-kick from just outside the penalty area, was dominating much of the post-game discussion. My initial thought was: controversy, what controversy?

“I asked the Arsenal striker, as is common practice, if he wanted a quick free-kick. Henry told me he wanted to take the free-kick quickly and Eidur Gudjohnsen, who had been standing over the ball, seemed aware of what was happening and turned away seemingly to try and make his team-mates aware of what was happening by waving his arms. “Hopefully the next time – and there will be a next time – everyone will accept the goal and get on with play without it being the talking point of the match.”