Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger: Gunners are 'nowhere near close' in Premier League title race

Arsene Wenger said on 3 March that Arsenal are "nowhere near" to winning the English Premier League title.

The Gunners bounced back from the disappointment of the 3-1 Champions League defeat at the Emirates to AS Monaco by beating Everton 2-0 on 1 March, a victory that saw them move into third place in the table, above Manchester United.

Chelsea are top, five points clear of Manchester City and with a game in hand, with Arsenal a further four points back.

"At the moment we are nowhere near to winning the Premier League, and nowhere near close to being in the race. But what we want is to do as well as we can without speculating on any weakness of any other team. At the end of the day, what is important now for us is to remain consistent," said Wenger at a press conference.

While Chelsea are beginning to look untouchable, faltering champions Manchester City could be caught by Wenger's side.

"I just feel you have to do as well as you can until the end of the season. At the moment we are too far from Chelsea to say that we are in the title race but you never know what can happen," the Arsenal manager said.

"But I speak as well about Manchester City, why should they give up for the title because they have done it, I think two years ago, by being eight points behind."

Arsenal travel across London on 4 March to face Queens Park Rangers who are in 17th place and are battling to avoid relegation.

"QPR is a team that fights not to go down," Wenger said. "They have 22 points and there are four teams I think who are down there with Leicester with 17 or 18. So there are four teams at the moment who are around there, one of them will get out, maybe two, and so you expect the commitment and the fight that you get from teams that fight not to go down."

The Frenchman took time to pay tribute to Tottenham Hotspur and Scotland legend Dave Mackay who died on 2 March at the age of 80.

Wenger said: "He's an iconic figure of British football. He contributed of course a lot to Tottenham's success at the time, he played with Derby [County] as well, he was a great player. So we're sad to see these people disappear and you just think sorry and you realise that it is of course a sad moment for English football."