William the conqueror - Gallas on his way to becoming an Arsenal great

Gallas's first season at Arsenal had been a frustrating one, hampered by some casual performances and a thigh injury that limited his involvement to under half of the club's fixtures.

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Captain fantastic - Gallas has proved an inspired choice to lead Arsenal

Where was the player, supporters wondered, who was a mainstay of the best defence in Europe during Jose Mourinho's two title-winning seasons at Chelsea and who, some Stamford Bridge regulars claim, was even more influential than John Terry?

The answer was at Emirates Stadium on Saturday. Pumping his fist, thumping his chest, kissing his badge and hugging his manager after denying Manchester United victory with a last-gasp swipe of his right boot.

He is now so influential he is likely to be only one of four players retained from the draw with United who starts against Slavia Prague tonight.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has taken the decision to rest key men Cesc Fabregas and Alexander Hleb, both of whom did not travel with the squad to the Czech Republic, while Kolo Toure and Tomas Rosicky are injured.

Emmanuel Adebayor, Mathieu Flamini and Bacary Sagna will probably all drop to the bench against a team beaten 7-0 at Emirates two weeks ago.

Promoting Gallas to the captaincy — ahead of Gilberto and Toure, even Fabregas — miffed many Arsenal fans. But perhaps it is another Wenger masterstroke as he has led from the front in the very best tradition of inspirational Arsenal captains such as Tony Adams and Patrick Vieira.

"When things go well everybody is a leader. When things are difficult you need somebody to step up and you look for your captain. Is William that type of player? He can be," said former Gunners defender Nigel Winterburn.

"He is a terrific player. The problem he has had since he came to the club is that he has been injured a lot and in and out of the team. If he has a run of 10 to 15 games we will see the best of him."

Gallas has occasionally alienated himself from Arsenal's players with his outspoken views on their displays. One such outburst earned a stern rebuke from Wenger last season, prompting Gallas to moan to the French media that his particular brand of frankness was unappreciated.

For all his foibles, Gallas is a born winner with an abundance of top-level experience. Club insiders say he is the most vocal presence in a dressing room not bursting with extroverts. One school of thought is that Wenger felt the best way of keeping the temperamental 31-year-old focused on the cause was to give him the captaincy.

But Winterburn said: "Knowing Arsene, I don't think he would give anybody the captaincy to make them toe the line. It's just down to instinct and choice. Arsene sees something in William that he likes."

One Arsenal fans' website reckoned after Saturday's encounter that Gallas is a better captain than his two French predecessors, Vieira and Thierry Henry, and the best the club have had since Adams.

Yet Winterburn insists it will take a lot for Gallas to be remembered in the same breath in N5 as Arsenal's legendary centre-back. "You need to spend 15 years to emulate what Tony achieved," said Winterburn.

Meanwhile, Arsenal have yet to get to the root of Rosicky's niggling injury problems.

Pavel Kolar, the Czech team doctor, claims the club are not aware of the nature of Rosicky's muscle problems and believes they require a five-month daily regime of correctional exercises to fully cure.