Eleven points off the lead. An injury-ravaged forward line. Yet another player suspended after getting sent off. Surely it’s too much for Arsenal to win the Premier League title now? Not according to their manager Mikel Arteta. “Over my dead body,” said the Arsenal boss, who came out fighting on Tuesday when asked if 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,” he added.

Arsenal’s chances of a first top-flight championship since 2004 were massively damaged, though, on a sobering weekend when Arteta’s second-place team stumbled to a 0-1 home loss to West Ham United on Saturday and first-place Liverpool won 2-0 at Manchester City on Sunday. Just when there seemed to be life in the title race, Liverpool powered into an 11-point lead over Arsenal — having played one game more — and are reaching the end of a difficult run of five league games in a 15-day stretch culminating in a home match against Newcastle on Wednesday.