Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has made it clear that he will not give up on the Premier League title race until Liverpool are mathematically out of reach.

A nightmare weekend for the Gunners saw them slip 11 points behind the Reds, albeit with a game in hand.

Arsenal have only 12 games to close the gap after suffering a shock defeat at home to West Ham and watching Liverpool dismantle Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium.

Arteta's cause has been made even more difficult by a string of injury problems - particularly in attack. But the 42-year-old insists he will not take his foot off the gas while a Premier League title win is still possible.

"It was a very disappointing weekend, obviously," he said during his press conference on Tuesday. "It was a very hard one to take.

"There are so many games to play and we have to get back to it. We have the levels and the hunger to get back to it again and that’s what we’re going to do.

"When you are there, you want more and more. I’m not going to stop - over my dead body. We will not stop thinking that way and giving it everything we can to be better than our opponents, regardless of what happens."

When asked whether he had truly not given up on winning the title this season, Arteta reiterated the same four-word message: "Over my dead body!"

The injury-hit Gunners have no choice but to pick themselves up and dust themselves down if they are to get through a tough run of games without slipping completely out of the title picture.

They travel to high-flying Nottingham Forest on Wednesday before facing Manchester United at Old Trafford and hosting Chelsea at the Emirates.

A two-legged Champions League knockout tie with PSV Eindhoven has also been shoehorned into Arsenal's busy fixture list.

Arteta revealed that youngster Ethan Nwaneri should be fit to face Forest after cramping against the Hammers, but wingers Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli are not yet ready to return.

The Arsenal boss also talked up the incredible work done by his Forest counterpart Nuno Espirito Santo. "It is unbelievable what he has done," said the Spaniard.

"Not only there, because what he did at Wolves was incredible, to be fair. Huge pride seeing what they have done since coming back to the Premier League. It’s a remarkable story so well done to them."