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Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger refuses to concede title to Manchester City

Arsenal's French manager Arsene Wenger attends the English Premier League football match between West Ham United and Arsenal at The London Stadium, in east
Image: Arsene Wenger could only watch his side draw 0-0 with West Ham as leaders Man City ran out 4-0 winners at Swansea

Arsene Wenger was reluctant to rule Arsenal out of the Premier League title race despite a goalless draw at West Ham leaving them 19 points behind Manchester City.

Arsenal were reduced to just three shots on target at the London Stadium as their winless run stretched to three league games.

It could have been defeat for Arsenal on Wednesday, but Javier Hernandez saw his effort hit the bar and bounce on the goal-line in the dying moments.

The draw came as City ran out 4-0 winners at Swansea - their 15th straight league win - but Wenger insists his side will not give up hope.

When asked about City's current stranglehold on the title race, Wenger replied: "I don't want to talk about that. That's good to make headlines but we have to focus on the next game and City is too far away to talk about the title at the moment.

"But it is one thing to be far away and another thing to give up. You don't give up. The job is to fight as long as we can and give our best. It's not to focus too much on anything else.

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West Ham 0-0 Arsenal

"We want to fight, our job is to fight and to continue to give everything and see where we finish. City is City. You know very well what is going on. We faced that problem with City like everyone else in the league."

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Having drawn 1-1 at Southampton on Sunday, Wenger conceded that Arsenal lacked sharpness against a side that played one day earlier at Saturday lunchtime - a 1-0 win over Chelsea.

"There are some draws that are frustrating. It is one of them. It was 10 against 10 in the final third," Wenger added.

"They defended very well and are in a highly defensive phase at the moment and it works for them at the moment. They did that against [Manchester] City, they did that against Chelsea and they did that tonight.

Jack Wilshere gets away from Pedro Obiang
Image: Jack Wilshere made his first league appearance for Arsenal in 19 months

"We lacked, maybe, that bit of sharpness as well in the final third. We had good opportunities but they blocked our shots. Maybe if they had played on Sunday and we had played on Saturday it would have been different. They had more physical resources to defend with a lot of decisiveness."

Wenger also handed first Premier League starts of the season to Olivier Giroud and Jack Wilshere, with the Arsenal boss adding that he was pleased with the latter's performance.

"Jack did well overall for his first game, especially in the first half where he had some sharpness. But he defended well overall. For the first game it is satisfying," Wenger said.

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