Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta admits defeat at home to Brighton was tough to take.

The Gunners return to Premier League action this weekend against Nottingham Forest with their title chances now effectively over.

Arteta said: "Obviously a very difficult one to swallow. Especially the way it happened in the last 25 minutes and having a very competitive first half where we should have taken much more advantage of the situations we had in the game. It was tough. In the end we discussed in the following days where we are, what we've done, what the possibilities are, what's in our hands and what we can deliver. We want to continue where we have been for the last 10 months.

"We can look at the picture, really narrowly and with a thin vision or we can look with perspective at where we are today and what we've done. But we cannot lose sight of what happens in certain moments where probably weren't at our best or at the level required to be champions or be in a better position than we are today. We have to acknowledge that. But the team and players deserve huge credit for how far we've come in the season. Don't forget that there's still two very important games to play though.

"We have shown this season. We're still there, with two games to go we can still be champions against probably the best team in Premier League history. For 10 months we're still there. There's two games still to go and we're not going to bottle that for sure. What happens next season will depend on what we do how, we evolve and how we start. That prediction is very difficult to do today."