A defiant Mikel Arteta has affirmed that he will give up Arsenal's chances of Premier League glory 'over his dead body' after the Gunners fell further adrift of Liverpool in the title race.
After two second-placed finishes in 2022-23 and 2023-24, Arsenal are looking likely to be consigned to another silver or potentially bronze medal following the weekend's 1-0 London derby loss to West Ham United.
The North London giants were relying on Manchester City to do them a massive favour against Liverpool the next day, but the Reds' 2-0 win took them 11 points clear at the top of the table, albeit having played a game more.
Another challenging contest away to Nottingham Forest awaits Arsenal in midweek, where Arteta will still be without his two recognised strikers in Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus, as well as Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli.
However, the Spaniard came out fighting in Tuesday's pre-game press conference, telling reporters: "If somebody tells you at the start of the season that by this time you will have played five times with a red card, over half an hour in each of them, and you have lost this amount of players, what's the bet you are in the middle of the table at least, and you are out of the Champions League?
Arteta: 'Over my dead body I will not stop believing'
© Iconsport
"But that's not the situation, so that tells you the resilience, the resources and the ambition the team and that every individual has, and that time has probably been one of my proudest moments to work, in that sense.
"The problem is when you are there you want more and more. I'm not going to stop - over my dead body that we stop thinking that way and putting everything we possibly can to increase that probability of us winning, being better than the opponent and hitting that performance, those standards constantly, regardless of what happens.
"If not, I will go home. Mathematically it's possible. You are there, you have to play every game. Suddenly three days ago we could close the gap and you are one and a half games away, it doesn't matter, we have to continue to go."
Arsenal are not complete strangers to overturning seemingly insurmountable title deficits, having been 12 points behind Manchester United in February 1998 only to pull off an astounding comeback and win their first-ever Premier League crown.
However, Arteta must try to mastermind a similar turnaround with depleted attacking resources, and there were fears that yet another offensive player - Ethan Nwaneri - had joined the infirm list after limping out of Saturday's derby.
Arteta allays Nwaneri injury fears
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The Gunners boss stressed at full time that the winger was only fatigued, though, and he further allayed fears of a lengthy layoff to the 17-year-old on Tuesday, while also providing the latest on Martinelli and Saka.
"Ethan was just cramping, obviously his load has been very different in recent weeks, but he's fine. Bukayo and Gabi are progressing really well but are still a bit far from coming back," Arteta added.
While Nwaneri is expected to be given the all-clear to start on Wednesday night, fellow teenager Myles Lewis-Skelly is suspended after picking up a record-breaking red card at the weekend.
Riccardo Calafiori started over Lewis-Skelly at the weekend and will expect to reprise his role at the City Ground, although he failed to cover himself in glory for Jarrod Bowen's winner in the derby.
Oleksandr Zinchenko and Kieran Tierney are alternatives on the left-hand side for Arteta, who deployed the former in a midfield role for the final half-hour on Saturday in place of Declan Rice.
Ben Knapton
