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Arsenal is also in the midst of an injury crisis that has ruled out most of their forwards, leaving Arteta a mountain to climb if the Gunners are to compete for the title.
Mikel Arteta (X)
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said the North London side will not give up on the Premier League title race despite Saturday’s loss to West Ham United, insisting he shall stop trying only ‘over my dead body’.
“We’re not going to stop. Over my dead body,” Arteta told reporters on Tuesday in the pre-match presser ahead of their midweek trip to third-placed Nottingham Forest.
Arne Slot’s Liverpool obliterated Manchester City 2-0 on the weekend to go 11 points above Arsenal, who have a game in hand.
Only three teams in Premier League history have closed a gap of 11 points or more to become champions by the end of the season.
Arsenal is also in the midst of an injury crisis that has ruled Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz out for the season while wingers Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli are also sidelined with injuries, leaving Arteta a mountain to climb if the Gunners are to compete for the title.
“If somebody tells you at the start of the season that you play five times with a red card, over half an hour in each of those games, and you have lost this amount of players… you’re in the middle of the table at least,” Arteta said.
“That’s not the situation. So that tells you the resilience, resources, the ambition the team has.”
Arteta expounded on his belief by stating how from 15 matches prior to the loss to West Ham, Arsenal had won the exact same number of points as Liverpool, who have been unbeaten in the Premier League since September.
“We got that defeat and on top of that, they (Liverpool) win.”
“When you are trying to build that momentum, and we put so much into it with the circumstances that we have, it was a really hard one to take,” the former Arsenal midfielder said.
“The reality is, there’s so many games to play. And you have to get back to it. And we have the levels, the consistency and the hunger to go again. And that’s what we’re going to do on Wednesday.
“At the end you have certain numbers you have to hit to win in this league and we have to hit that number if we’re going to have any chance.”
