Arsenal 1 - 0 Portsmouth

Late Gallas header keeps Arsenal title dream alive

Updated: December 28, 2008, 4:17 PM UK

Former captain William Gallas came to Arsenal's rescue with a late header in a 1-0 win against Portsmouth which keeps the Gunners in the Premier League title chase.

• Adams - Defoe's not happy

The breakthrough came in the 82nd minute when David James flapped at Denilson's free-kick and Gallas rose to head the ball into the Pompey net.

The victory was barely deserved but it prompted a wave of Arsenal attacks as they at last took control of a game they had struggled to grasp for great swathes against a Portsmouth team which is going through its own crisis of confidence under Tony Adams.

Arsenal are miles away from Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea and if Wenger does not do some serious business in the January transfer window they will stay that way.

As it is the result leaves Arsenal 10 points adrift of league leaders Liverpool and still hoping.

It was the day Adams returned to Arsenal for the first time as a fully-fledged manager and at last he got the sort of battling performance from his Portsmouth side that he always gave during 20 years in an Arsenal shirt in which he lifted 10 major trophies.

Unsurprisingly, it came after the Arsenal fans had paid their due respects to one of their own, the reception Adams received affectionate bordering on reverence.

He bowed appreciatively to accept it after dropping Jermain Defoe to the bench after three straight defeats had culminated in a 4-1 home defeat against West Ham.

He received a dogged response. Sol Campbell and Sylvain Distin defended superbly and with a bit more luck Pompey would have taken back a point at least to the south coast.

Adams, however, will now be even more desperate to use a chunk of the £20million the club are set to receive for Lassana Diarra in the January transfer window.

This was their fourth straight defeat and that is relegation territory, but quite why he waited until the 88th minute to bring on Defoe was a mystery.

The Gunners dominated possession and Adams continually was out on the touchline urging his side not to defend so deep.

But, without the injured Cesc Fabregas, in midfield Arsenal were light on invention, resorting to speculative long shots.

It was a dreadful, stale-as-Christmas-turkey first half, full of cagey football and two teams desperate for a confidence-boosting result.

Even so Portsmouth could easily have gone in at half-time with the lead. The ball was swung over from the right by David Nugent and Peter Crouch jumped higher than Gallas to send the ball against Manuel Almunia's post. It was the strike of the match.

Emmanuel Adebayor had an equally good opening which he too squandered, riding the tackle of Campbell and bearing down on James in the Portsmouth goal only for Distin to arrive just in time with a precision tackle to sweep the ball away for a corner.

Distin also cleared off the line from Mikael Silvestre just after half-time and James pulled off the save of the match when he raced out to save with his feet from Samir Nasri.

But for all Arsenal's huff and puff there was precious little guile.

They miss terribly the invention of the injured Fabregas. Nasri simply does not have the same presence.

Yet when Gallas planted his header past James, who flapped in the breeze for a swirling free-kick, the Gunners fans were singing a familiar refrain.

'One-nil to the Arsenal.'

It was, but it was anything but convincing.

Adams - Defoe's not happy

Tony Adams admitted Portsmouth striker Jermain Defoe was fuming after being left on the bench in the 1-0 defeat against Arsenal at the Emirates.

Defoe is rumoured to be the subject of a big bid by a rival Barclays Premier League club in the January transfer window.

But Adams left his star striker on the substitutes bench until two minutes from the end, despite Portsmouth slumping to their fourth league defeat in a row to a late header from former Arsenal captain William Gallas.

Adams, who insisted Portsmouth had received no bids for Defoe, said: ''Jermain was really annoyed with me for leaving him out and he is still angry with me now - and I wouldn't want it any other way to be honest.

''It was tactical. He might have got a point. He could easily turn round to me and say 'Look, you got it wrong boss because you lost.' But it's not easy being a manager and you have to make difficult decisions.

''He's a fantastic player, scores great goals but at the moment we are struggling with balance. Away at Liverpool and away at Arsenal I chose to keep him on the bench. Those are my reasons and speculate all you want but I have had no offers for Jermain Defoe, not one.''

Adams, who was returning to Arsenal for the first time as a fully-fledged manager, also insists he does not want to sell in the window which opens on Thursday.

He added: ''I am determined to hold on to all of them but I want people who want to play for Portsmouth. We're in a scrap with 14 other clubs and if they don't want to play for Portsmouth then they're no good to me.

''It's not reading the riot act, it's fact. If your head has been turned, if you're not trying everything to win games for the club then I don't want you around.

''No-one's come to see me, no-one wants away. I'm really encouraged, not with the results, but with the way they are performing.''

For Arsene Wenger it was more about the result and the contribution of former captain William Gallas.

Wenger insisted he does not want to sell any players in the transfer window and praised the controversial Gallas, who he stripped of the captaincy after the players' criticisms in his controversial autobiography, for what was a timely winner.

Wenger said: ''He answered everybody by his performance on the pitch and that's what you do when you are a great player. He started as a striker and looks most likely to score at set-pieces. He has good timing to attack the ball.''

The Arsenal manager also believes his injury-hit side have received more unfair flak than any Arsenal team he has managed.

He said: ''The team are maturing and have shown great mental strength in the past few weeks.

''No team since I have been here have got as bad publicity and I don't think it is fair because they have got great character.''

You could say the same about the Arsenal crowd, who gave Adams the most affectionate of receptions before singing the obligatory 'One-nil to the Arsenal.'

Adams acknowledged the chants but said: ''It comes back to haunt you. I thought it was one-nil to the lucky Arsenal today.''