Emmanuel Adebayor believes William Gallas was right to publicly question his Arsenal team-mates' stomach for a fight. The Frenchman was stripped of the club captaincy in November after criticising the squad for lacking bravery, while he also revealed the rifts in Arsenal's dressing room that have threatened to derail their season.

Gallas was temporarily dropped from the first team by Arsene Wenger but was soon restored to the line-up, and scored the winner in Arsenal's 1-0 victory over Portsmouth in their last Premier League match.

Adebayor, who labels Gallas as his 'big brother', feels the defender's outburst may have been just the thing Arsenal needed as they attempt to stay in the hunt for the league title. "There is some truth in what he said," the Togo striker said. "Someone had to say these things, to make each person face up to their responsibilities. If he had said nothing, where would we be today?

"Gallas has always been like that - he has experience, he has won titles, played in a World Cup final. He doesn't throw these thoughts around lightly. He said something because it was necessary to do it.

"He is indispensable to the team. He is Arsenal's rock - his behaviour since the armband was taken off him proves that."

Arsenal go into the weekend fifth in the Premier League, ten points behind leaders Liverpool with half the campaign remaining, but Adebayor is not giving up hope of challenging for the title, although he admits the team's mentality has to change between now and the end of the season.

"It's a question of confidence," he said. "At the moment, when we take the lead, we are scared. We tremble until the final whistle because the team is young and we have conceded several goals in the last few minutes of matches.

"We are lacking a bit of luck. We haven't been on top form since the start of the season. Perhaps we will perform better towards the end [of the season]."