Title fadeout sees Mikel Arteta switch Arsenal focus to Europe

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has told his players to "step up" after their Premier League season continued to fizzle out with a 0-0 draw at Nottingham Forest.

Arteta said ahead of kick off that his side would concede the title "over my dead body" but he may have to accept that their challenge has died a death after this stalemate, which came four days after a home defeat to West Ham.

The toothless Gunners, playing without a recognised striker, managed just one shot on target at the City Ground, with Riccardo Calafiori also hitting the post in the first half.

They are now 13 points behind champions-elect Liverpool and with a severe lack of attacking options, it would take some turnaround for them to leapfrog Arne Slot's relentless side.

Arteta now appears to be targeting the Champions League, where they play PSV in the last-16 first leg on Tuesday.

The Spaniard said: "Very disappointed not to win it. Today the standards were very different to the previous game. The energy, the willingness to make things happen. We certainly tried many different ways.

"It’s about what we can do. It was like this a week before, two weeks before, three months ago. It’s the same.

"That’s the only thing we can control. We’re going to have a real chance to do anything. Today we dropped two points which is very painful again and we have to step up.

"We have the Champions League, we have a beautiful competition in front of us and we need to be ready for Tuesday."

With Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Jesus, Gabriel Martinelli and Kai Havertz all in the treatment room, Arteta’s attacking options are limited.

And that was evident at the City Ground where they never really looked like scoring.

"We try and adapt to the qualities they have, how we can help the team to create