Lehmann attacks critics

"But it is not a problem if people blame me for every goal we have let in. I know inside myself when I have done something wrong and when I haven't. This is what happens when you play in such a good team - and I have never played in a team that have played as well as this Arsenal team. But because of that I have to make one save in 90 minutes, maybe two. When I don't do it, I can be blamed. I have to live with bigger criticism."

If the 34-year-old, signed from Borussia Dortmund last July, is unnerved by reports Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is lining up a close-season replacement for him, he doesn't show it.

"I have to be one of the best to play at Arsenal," he said. "We are capable of winning the championship because we have the best team and the best players.

"What did not help us in the last few weeks was the amount of highquality games we had to play - Manchester United twice, Chelsea twice, Liverpool and Newcastle. I do not think any other English team has had a programme like that. We are very focused on the championship and now we are going to show we are the best team."

Lehmann is still deeply patriotic and hopes to win a European Championship medal this summer. But Germany manager Rudi Voller favours Bayern Munich's Oliver Kahn as his No1 keeper.

The rivalry between the two players has reached soap opera proportions. "Rudi Voller came to England and told me he is glad to have me but that Oliver Kahn is the No1," said Lehmann. "I have to accept it.

"If he is doing well, it is good for Germany. If not, there will be a change. We train together, there is no problem. Things have been exaggerated. We talk, sometimes we have chats. Look, there are a lot of teams who pretend there is harmony when, in fact, it doesn't exist. Sometimes it is better to make clear I have a different opinion but I respect you. Then we have a normal relationship."

Lehmann has let himself down on occasions this season with his fiery temperament - for example, when he threw the ball at Kevin Phillips of Southampton and by shoving Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo in the FA Cup semi-final. But he defends his actions, and believes Ronaldo waited "for me to push him".

He added: "He was looking at the referee and he was cheating. But that's not a big deal. Of course there is tension when you play but when somebody tries to attack me, I go back. I have to defeat him. Football is like a battle. I don't say I have the best behaviour on the pitch but I have improved. If the referees protect me, I won't have a problem.

"Sometimes they haven't protected me and so I have to tell them. And if they don't see it, I have to have a battle with the striker to protect myself. But I have never injured anybody in my life."

Victory over Leeds tonight will put Arsenal 10 points clear of secondplaced Chelsea and if results go their way in the next two matches they could clinch the title at Tottenham a week on Sunday.

Lehmann knows he will be a target for abuse from Spurs fans but, in true Baldrick fashion, he has a cunning plan to defuse the situation. "I will put a Jurgen Klinsmann shirt on my back," he said.