Clichy faces up to latest title blow

Gael Clichy last night admitted Arsenal have to start questioning themselves after their latest title flop.

The Gunners have fallen nine points behind in the title race after back-to-back defeats to Manchester United and Chelsea, meaning tomorrow’s game with Liverpool is win-or-bust for Arsene Wenger.

Left-back Clichy insists they have not given up on the Premier League, but admits they have to do some soul searching after Sunday’s defeat to Chelsea.

Clichy said: “The rule in sport is when you want to be the best, after every defeat you have to ask the right questions of yourself and the team. You have to go again and dig in.

“That is what we are going to start doing again in training because it is only with hard work and a bit of luck that things can happen. Maybe then we can go somewhere.

“It is not going to be easy but it is not finished. We were 11 points behind and came back, so we have to hope they [Chelsea and Manchester United] drop points and make sure we don’t.

“It is even more complicated now to win the league but we have to keep fighting until the end. We have seen since the start of the season, everyone can drop points against anyone.

“Of course, it would have been better to win against Chelsea and Man United but that is the way it is. We have to keep going. We need to be more decisive in the right moments and the best thing to do is to carry on fighting."

Clichy was honest enough to admit that Arsenal were outfought at Chelsea and says, even though they played well, defeat was hard to take.

He added: “You cannot say you played well when you lose 2-0 but we tried everything.

“It is always difficult to play against Chelsea because even if you have the ball and you feel like you are playing better than them, they let you play but they have a strong striker up front in Drogba, who can play alone for the 90 minutes.

“You have to go forward and you think they are going to crack but they are really solid at the back. People are saying they are slow, but it is a solid unit. We pushed hard but we lost and it is hard to take.

“We don’t have to look for a long run - we have to think game after game and it starts with Liverpool. We have to think one game at a time but the less we lose, the better it will be.”