A pre-match injury to Manuel Almunia forced Arsenal to give recently unretired 41-year-old Jens Lehmann the start in goal against Blackpool on Sunday. With a shaky outing for the reserves under his belt, Lehmann tested Arsene Wenger's nerves in the 52nd minute when he took Blackpool's DJ Campbell down in the box. But instead of booking Lehmann for his offense (or worse: sending him off), the referee played the advantage and Gary Taylor-Fletcher ended up scoring to cut Arsenal's lead to 2-1.
And who would Arsenal have put in goal if Lehman had been sent off? From Reuters:
If he had been red carded, Arsenal would have had to play Dutch striker Robin van Persie in goal as Lehmann's stand-in as Almunia was not among the substitutes.
"He is a very good goalkeeper, but he doesn't take my glove size," Lehmann joked afterwards, while Van Persie, who wrapped up the win with Arsenal's third goal replied: "It's true."
Oh snap! Mad Jens with a surprisingly subtle remark about Robin's glove size. He didn't even begin by saying, "I've seen him in the shower..."
Lehmann's assertion that van Persie is actually a good goalkeeper might be true, though. He's messed around in goal during training before. Being the team's leading scorer will probably continue to keep him from making the switch, though. And getting embarrassed by his five-year-old son probably doesn't help either...
Photo: Getty Images
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