By Mark Heys
February 13 2006

Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann says that he is amazed that Yorkshire referee Howard Webb was cleared to officiate the match with Bolton last Saturday. The German stopper was of the opinion that Webb showed favouritism towards Bolton throughout the 1-1 draw and alleges that such an incident took place with Kevin Nolan as the game came to a close.

"What surprised me was, at the end of the game, the ref said to Kevin Nolan 'Come on, there's five minutes left'. I have not heard this before. He said this to Nolan in the corner of the pitch. said Lehmann who had a run in with Webb during the December game at the Reebok Stadium.

"I was complaining to the ref about a handball and that is when he said 'Come on, five minutes', For a referee to say this is so unusual."

Webb was in charge of Bolton's 2-0 win over the Gunners earlier on in the season and Lehmann says that some of his decisions affected the performance of some Arsenal players during the game.

"We were wondering why we had the same ref as the home game. This seems to me quite unusual. We were quite unhappy in that match - and he turned up again. It is difficult to play when you have problems with his decisions."