Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal will start in second place as Chelsea come to the Emirates for key London derby.
Manchester City enjoyed a 2-1 win at Fulham on Sunday that moved them above the Gunners. City now lead by a point and still a game in hand after eight wins in a row.
Arsenal have earned just three points from their last four outings, which is ample reason why they have been caught by City.
The match against Chelsea kicks off at 9pm.
Arteta isn’t giving up though.
“We have achieved what it was difficult to achieve and we can still achieve the Premier League because there are five games to go and a lot of things are going to happen still,” he said.
“Now the title race is not in our hands anymore. What is in our hands is to try to win the games we have left and the rest is down to City.
“What we have to do is forget about what happened last week, learn from it and move on to the next game with a full tilt at home, with our people, London derby, and put things right.”
The Spaniard added: “We still have the nicest part of the season to play with five games to go. But when I still look at it, this is not over.
“I am incredibly proud and thankful to everyone who has contributed to bringing Champions League football back to this club with five or six games to go, it is something that hasn’t happened in over a decade in this football club.
“So congratulations but also thank you for still being upset and not accepting that Champions League is not enough and we want more because this squad is going to demand to get what we want.”
Arsenal have won four of their last five Premier League games against Chelsea (L1), as many as they had in their previous 23 against the Blues (D6 L13).
Chelsea won this exact fixture 2-0 last season – only once in the Premier League have they won consecutive visits to Arsenal, doing so in May and November 2009.
Arsenal are looking to win three consecutive Premier League games against Chelsea for the first time since February 2004. Indeed, they could achieve their second league double in three seasons against the Blues, having done so just once in the previous 20 campaigns beforehand (2003-04).
Only Southampton have kept fewer home clean sheets than Arsenal (3) in the Premier League this season.