Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has insisted his team will not concede the Premier League title despite falling 11 points behind leaders Liverpool. Arteta’s defiant stance comes after Arsenal suffered a 1-0 defeat to West Ham at the Emirates Stadium last weekend, further widening the gap at the top of the table.
Only three teams in Premier League history have overcome an 11-point (or greater) deficit to win the title. However, Arsenal have a game in hand on Liverpool and are scheduled to play them at Anfield on May 10th.
When asked if he would concede the title, Arteta responded emphatically: “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 faced significant injury challenges this season, with key attacking players Bukayo Saka, Kai Havertz, and Gabriel Martinelli currently unavailable. Arteta acknowledged the impact of these absences but highlighted his team’s strong recent form prior to the West Ham defeat.
“The previous 15 games we had won 10 and drawn five – exactly the same as Liverpool with exactly the same goal difference,” Arteta pointed out. “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.”
Arteta’s comments suggest that while he acknowledges the increased difficulty of the task, he believes Arsenal still have the capacity to challenge for the title, even if it requires an unprecedented comeback.
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