Arsenal cannot drop any more points if they want to keep title hopes alive, says Mertesacker

Arsenal defender Per Mertesacker believes his side can still win the title if they win their remaining games. The Gunners are currently 11 points adrift of leaders Leicester City, albeit having played a game less, but with a few tough fixtures coming up for the Foxes, the German is hopeful that the leaders will drop points and make for an exciting end to the season.

The Gunners have been in woeful form since the turn of the year, managing only two wins from nine league games, which all but ended any hope of them challenging for the title. From being top of the table in January, the Gunners are playing catch-up with second placed Tottenham, who are currently four points ahead. The Gunners have stumbled on a good run of form in the league, with two back-to-back wins against Everton and Watford, which has kept them in line with the leaders.

Meanwhile, Mertesacker has been dropped from the starting eleven for the third game running, with Gabriel being put alongside Laurent Koscielny. Barring the 3-1 defeat at Barcelona, the centre-back pairing have done well, keeping two clean sheets, thus making it difficult for the German to make a comeback. On the title front, the World Cup winner is not willing to give up on the race just yet and insists that the Gunners can still make something out of the season if they win their remaining seven games.

"It's not totally over yet," Mertesacker told German website Sport1.de, as quoted by talkSPORT. "If we win all of our matches, then we've got a good chance. We've got to keep focusing on that and that's why we're taking things game by game.

"We're trying to concentrate fully on our next game against West Ham. We have a bit more time now that we're not in any other competition so we don't have to concentrate on anything else, other than the title."