Arsenal will not stop fighting for the Premier League title despite slipping 11 points behind leaders Liverpool, says manager Mikel Arteta.
The Gunners lost further ground on league leaders Liverpool last weekend following a 1-0 defeat by West Ham at Emirates Stadium.
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.
But Arsenal still have a game in hand on Arne Slot’s side and visit Anfield on 10 May, and Arteta believes his side remain in the title race.
Asked if he would concede the title, Arteta said: “Over my dead body. If not I will go home.
“Mathematically it is possible. Three days ago we could close a gap and you are like ‘you are one and a half games away’.
“The difficulty is higher than three days ago but if you are going to win the Premier League you have to do something special.
“If you are going to win the Premier League with the circumstances we have you will probably have to do something that nobody else has done in the history of the Premier League.”
Arsenal have been impacted by injuries to a number of key players this season and are currently without Bukayo Saka, Kai Havertz and Gabriel Martinelli in attack.
Arteta feels those setbacks caught up with his team in the defeat by West Ham, but he pointed out: “The previous 15 games we had won 10 and drawn five – exactly the same as Liverpool with exactly the same goal difference.
“So we have been extremely consistent over the past three months considering everything we have been through.
“We have generated that momentum and it was that weekend where we have to go again but we got a defeat. 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.”
