IN the space of a fortnight the team that many believed could not lose has now become the side that can't stop losing.

Excuses for Arsenal's worst run for 19 years have been as thick on the Highbury ground as autumn leaves, with David Seaman seen as the main orchestrator in the Gunners' dramatic demise.

Seaman, following his poor performance against Macedonia, has recently found himself the subject of almost as many tabloid tales as John Leslie.

And while criticism of some of the England keeper's performances has wavered towards the ridiculous, there is no doubt that this season Seaman looks a shadow of the player he once was.

Star players Thierry Henry and Patrick Vieira have also added their voice to the growing concerns at Highbury.

They have cited fatigue as a principal factor for Arsenal's run of defeats at the hands of Everton, Auxerre, Blackburn and Borussia Dortmund.

But what has become apparent over the last fortnight is how desperately Arsenal miss the leadership of Tony Adams.

What Arsene Wenger would give for Adams now to lead his weary side out against neighbours Fulham at Loftus Road tomorrow in desperate need of a morale-boosting victory.

Indeed, when Arsenal were being touted as champions with just two months of the season gone it was easy to forget how important Adams had become.

For so many years the much-vaunted Arsenal back-four owed much to Adams' tough and uncompromising style.

But his leadership skills were his main asset.

Many had predicted that the arrival of Wenger at Highbury would signal the end of Adams.

The cultured Frenchman's preference for neat and attractive football somehow did not fit with the image of a defender battling against an addiction to alcohol and once derided as a 'donkey'.

However, Adams had other ideas.

He reinvented himself as a modern footballer and inspired the Gunners to the Championship in 1998.

How Arsenal could do with his presence now, whether delivering a half-time team talk in the changing room, organising the defence, or even shouting encouragement or censure from the sidelines.

There is no question that the current incumbent, Frenchman Patrick Vieira, is a world-class player.

But how Arsenal respond to this current crisis will depend greatly on their captain's ability to inspire and motivate a side desperately low on confidence.

A tall order, certainly for a player who himself has been the subject of many tabloid stories linking him with a move away from North London and one made even harder by his current suspension.

Unthinkable failure against Fulham tomorrow could well spell the end of Arsenal's bid to regain the title.

If Liverpool beat West Ham at Anfield this afternoon and the Gunners lose tomorrow there would be a seven-point gap between the two.

Long leads have been lost before, but the need for Wenger's side to get back on track cannot be more firmly emphasised.