Gallas finds freedom now that he's not distracted by the armband

Manuel Almunia believes William Gallas has rediscovered his best form since being stripped of the Arsenal captaincy by manager Arsene Wenger.

Gallas scored the winner against Portsmouth with just nine minutes remaining and was significantly joined by all his team-mates in the celebrations that followed.

It was only five weeks ago that the French international lost the armband after publicly criticising his colleagues and his future at the club looked bleak.

But Almunia, standing in for the injured Cesc Fabregas as skipper, feels Gallas has thrived without the pressure of leadership and is vital to their chances of succeeding this season.

Almunia said: "He's playing better now. I spoke to him last week and he's playing better because he's not worried about other things, players or circumstances on and off the pitch.

"William took too much responsibility before when it should be shared among everyone in the group.

"I have so much respect for him and he's really enjoying playing on the pitch without so much pressure of being captain.

"We are on his side, everyone supports him. Personally I have a good relationship with him and I'm very happy he scored. He's playing very well and he deserved to score.

"He knows how to get success, but even though he's not the captain, we're still following him on the pitch."

Arsenal fans certainly had good reason to be thankful for Gallas's goal, as it looked certain that the club were going to lose even more ground in the title race.

They rarely threatened against a Portsmouth team who looked at ease with the 4-5-1 formation manager Tony Adams chose to frustrate his former club.

The Arsenal legend, whose name was sung during and after the game, dropped Jermain Defoe to the bench and left Peter Crouch on his own up front.

Crouch almost gave the visitors the lead in the first half when his header hit the post, although Arsenal came close before the break when Sol Campbell and Sylvain Distin did brilliantly to stop Emmanuel Adebayor from scoring after he had gone round keeper David James.

England's No1 was Portmouth's weakest link and having flapped at two crosses earlier in the game, it was no surprise when Gallas beat him to Denilson's free kick near the end.

Still Almunia wasn't letting victory disguise an average performance and admits there is much room for improvement.

He added: "We're coming back slowly, showing better spirit and character, but we are still a long way from where we want to be.

"We're not in a very good position now. The main thing at the moment is to look for our identity, the character that gave the club all the titles.

"We're maybe missing something, we lost our way to play on the pitch. We have to find our way to play with spirit and desire to win."

Adam's decision to drop Defoe from the starting line-up will only increase speculation that he will leave the club.

Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp claims that he can't afford to bring him back to White Hart Lane after another club made a big offer for him, with Aston Villa and Manchester City cited as possible bidders, although Adams (left) is adamant he has yet to receive a bid.

However, he also said: "I am determined to hold on to all of the players, but I want people who want to play for Portsmouth. We're in a scrap if they don't want to play for Portsmouth then they're no good to me."

It is understood that Defoe hasn't impressed the club with his attitude in recent weeks and suspicions have grown that he has been looking to move in the new year.