Arsenal warned

Arsenal captain Tony Adams yesterday warned his team-mates "play like Saturday and we'll get a good hiding" as a depleted Arsenal prepared for their do-or-die clash with French champions Lens at Wembley without three key players.

The Gunners know only victory will be good enough to keep their hopes of reaching the next round alive.

But the Double winners will be without the injured Dennis Bergkamp, Emmanuel Petit - who was already suspended - and Patrick Vieira.

And their most important game of the season so far comes just four days after their worst display of the season when manager Arsene Wenger admitted they were "outfought" by lowly Wimbledon in a 1-0 defeat at Selhurst Park.

All this has left Adams in no doubt that a repeat of Saturday's display would leave Arsenal out of the Champions' League with a game to spare in a group they should have won comfortably.

"I don't like to be associated with the performance we put in on Saturday. It was pretty poor," Adams said.

"If we play like we did on Saturday against Lens we will get a good hiding. When you perform badly you can look at characters and see how they react to a poor performance. A lot of things went wrong and we have a short time to actually recover."

The one positive note for Arsenal is that Adams feels the loss of Bergkamp, Petit and Vieira is in danger of being overestimated.

Vieira could be out for three weeks with his hamstring injury, Petit is in danger of being absent for a similar period with a abdominal strain also picked up on Saturday while Bergkamp may also need two weeks rest with his calf problem - although Wenger hopes it may prove just a tight muscle.

But Adams pointed out: "We played with Patrick and Emmanuel in Kiev and lost 3-1. We won the FA Cup final without Dennis. Obviously we would like to have them but it's reality."

In the absence of Bergkamp - and the ineligibility of Fredrik Ljungberg - a great deal of responsibility rests on the shoulders of Nicolas Anelka if Arsenal are to finally start finding the net on a regular basis.

And Wenger is confident the French youngster will rise to the occasion and actually thrive on the pressure. "He is strong when he has to perform," Wenger added.