Mikel Arteta has refused to concede the Premier League title, despite seeing Arsenal fall 13 points behind leaders Liverpool with a 0-0 draw against Nottingham Forest.
Arsenal have dropped five points in their last two games and have failed to take advantage of Liverpool being held to draws by Everton and Aston Villa this month. The failure to claim three points at Forest came after Arteta’s side registered just one shot on target at the City Ground.
With 11 games still to play — including a trip to Liverpool — and 33 points to play for, Arteta said his team would not change their approach to the title race.
“It was same a week ago, two weeks ago, three months ago,” Arteta said. “The only thing we can do is win our matches and see how many points we get.
“We have dropped two points in this game and it is painful. It doesn’t feel good because we’re here to win. We showed unquestionable character in how much we wanted it and tried.
“We dominated the game. We tried in many different ways. We insisted but lacked that spark, that final pass to unlock a well organised team. We have to generate more shots on target.”
Despite failing to score for a second successive game, Arteta said the performance against Forest was better than the one against West Ham, which he said made him “angry.”
“Very different standard [to the West Ham defeat],” Arteta said. “We defended with energy, purpose, fight, willingness to make things happen. “It wasn’t because we lacked that. We tried until the end but weren’t able to do it.”