Mikel Arteta insisted that Arsenal will not stop fighting for the Premier League title despite slipping 11 points behind leaders Liverpool.
Arteta watched on as the Gunners were beaten 1-0 by West Ham at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday, ending their 15-game unbeaten run in the top-flight.
And that defeat proved costly, with Arne Slot’s side emerging 2-0 victors away to Manchester City 24 hours later to pull further clear at the summit of the standings.
Opta’s supercomputer now hands Liverpool a 96.6% chance of lifting the title, while the Gunners have been given just a 3.4% chance of topping the table in May.
Arsenal’s chances have not been helped by the season-ending injuries to Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus, while Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka also remain sidelined.
And Arteta’s side face a tough test away to third-placed Nottingham Forest on Wednesday.
Though they won this exact fixture 2-1 last season, Arsenal haven’t won consecutive away league games at the City Ground since a run of four between 1987 and 1990.
Though the odds are seemingly stacked against his team, Arteta reiterated Arsenal’s desire to fight until it was mathematically impossible to lift the title.
“We’re not going to stop. Over my dead body,” Arteta told reporters. “If not, I will go home. Mathematically it is possible.
“You are there, you have to play every game. Suddenly, three days ago, we could close a gap, and you are like ‘you are one-and-a-half games away’.
“It doesn’t matter, we have to continue to go. The difficulty is greater than three days about but if you are going to win the Premier League you have to do something special.
“If you are going to win the title in the circumstances we have, you will probably have to do something that nobody else has done in the history of the Premier League.”
Following their clash with Forest, Arsenal continue their campaign in the Champions League with their two-legged round of 16 clash against PSV Eindhoven.
They also face huge tests in the Premier League, with an away trip to Manchester United before welcoming Chelsea to the Emirates before the international break next month.
