Is it too much to expect Arsenal to contend for the Premier League title at this stage?
Mikel Arteta does not think so.
“Over my dead body,” said the Arsenal manager, who came out fighting Tuesday when it was put to him that he might be ready to concede the title to Liverpool.
“If not, I go home. Mathematically, it is possible. You are there, you have to play every game.”
However, Arsenal's pursuit of its first top-flight championship since 2004 took a significant hit over the weekend, as Arteta's side suffered a 1-0 defeat at home to West Ham, while Liverpool secured a 2-0 victory against Manchester City, extending their lead to 11 points over Arsenal, who have played one match more.
Just when it seemed the title race might be reignited, Liverpool surged ahead, and they are nearing the conclusion of a challenging stretch of five league matches within 15 days, culminating in a home fixture against Newcastle on Wednesday.
On the same evening, Arsenal will travel to face third-placed Nottingham Forest, still missing its four key attacking players—Bukayo Saka, Kai Havertz, Gabriel Martinelli, and Gabriel Jesus—due to injuries. Additionally, left back Myles Lewis-Skelly will be unavailable after receiving a red card against West Ham.
This season, Arsenal has accumulated five red cards, two more than any other team in the league.
Given these challenges, Arteta remarked that his players “probably have to achieve something unprecedented in Premier League history” to secure the title this year.
“If somebody tells you at the start of the season that by this time, you have played five times with a red card over half an hour in each of those games, 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 noted.
“That’s not the situation. So that tells you the resilience, the resources, the ambition that the team has, every individual has, and that has been probably one of the proudest moments in my time working (here).”