Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has conceded that the Premier League title is slipping 'further out of Arsenal's hands', but insists that they will continue to fight until the end.
The Gunners now find themselves 12 points off the pace following Saturday's 3-1 loss to leaders Chelsea, leaving many supporters to call for manager Arsene Wenger's head.
A 13th season without top-flight silverware now appears a certainty as far as Arsenal are concerned, but midfielder Oxlade-Chamberlain has urged his teammates to continue battling until it becomes mathematically impossible to overhaul Chelsea.
"It's slipped further out of our hands and there's no hiding from that now," Sky Sports News quotes him as saying. "The gap is much bigger and it's going to be hard. But we play for Arsenal football club; if we don't go until the end, we don't deserve to be here. We've got to keep doing that.
"At the top level, against a team like Chelsea, there's a good chance they'll punish you if you make mistakes and they did that. That was disappointing. Then a mistake at the end killed the game for us. Olivier [Giroud] got one back but at the end it was too late."
Arsenal, who will end the weekend fourth in the table, have now lost four of their last nine Premier League games.
Daniel Lewis
