Poll is accused by Gudjohnsen

Eidur Gudjohnsen today reignited the row over Thierry Henry's quickly-taken free-kick at Highbury by accusing referee Graham Poll of going back on his word in Sunday's 2-2 between Chelsea and Arsenal.

Gudjohnsen claims that Poll told Chelsea's players he would blow his whistle before permitting Henry to strike the ball but instead allowed the Frenchman to curl the ball into an unguarded net.

After hearing Jose Mourinho accuse him of cheating Chelsea of victory, Poll went on the offensive yesterday, insisting he had no need to blow his whistle. But Gudjohnsen offered an alternative perspective.

The Icelandic striker was the closest Chelsea player to the incident and claims Poll helped Henry so much that it was like watching a trainingground routine.

He said: "We asked the referee to blow the whistle and he told one of our players what he was going to. 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."

Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech added to the chorus of criticism aimed at Poll. In an interview with a Czech newspaper, he was quoted as saying: "Maybe he [Poll] is an Arsenal fan or it was just a failure. We were able to win the game but the referee scored a goal for Arsenal. It's not acceptable. Poll has cheated us. He clearly showed, he will give a whistle."