Arsenal boss Arteta finally concedes Premier League title 

Gunners held 1-1 by Brentford to leave champions elect Liverpool requiring only nine points from seven games 

Saturday evening's 1-1 draw vs Brentford also ensured the domestically lacklustre Gunners have now won just two of their past seven Premier League games, taking 10 points from a possible 21.

With the Gunners gearing up for their crucial Champions League quarter-final second leg against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu next week, speaking after the insipid draw with the Bees at the Emirates, when Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta was asked about his side's Premier League title chances, he replied: "I don't know, the atmosphere was different to Tuesday, that's for sure. 

"I don't know if it was playing in the back [minds] of the crowd, for us as professionals we know the importance of that.

"Today what we wanted to do was increase the probability of us really challenging for what we are looking for in the Premier League. With that result, it's more unlikely to happen."

With Arteta making a flurry of changes after Thomas Partey's opener, the Gunners boss was asked if his substitutions were planned before the game. 

Arteta replied: "We had an idea because we know certain players that we picked in the starting line-up that they could not be able to finish the game. So we had two eyes open with that one. 

"We didn't expect the issue with Thomas [Partey] that we had to take him out. And then for sure we didn't expect what happened with Jorginho that we ended up playing with 10 men."