Arsenal dressing room 'not giving up' on catching Liverpool after Real Madrid triumph

The squad are refusing to concede defeat to in the title race even though the Reds will be crowned champions if they win their next two matches. Thanks to a 13-point buffer, Liverpool could even mathematically win the league this weekend if Arsenal lose at Ipswich and Arne Slot's side beat Leicester away from home hours later. Yet Gabriel Martinelli insists the Arsenal dressing room aren't giving up on their title dream.

This season threatens to be the third in a row they have been pipped to the crown, with Manchester City dashing their dreams in the previous two campaigns. Arsenal travel to Ipswich this weekend on a high though after their midweek upset of Real Madrid. Leading 3-0 from the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final, the Gunners through goals from Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli. And the Brazilian insists off the back of that, Arsenal must keep Liverpool waiting.

"We have to believe and it's not over yet," said Martinelli. Of course it's a big margin of points but we can't give up. We're not going to give up. We have the Champions League as well so we have to try to win every single game.

"But it's the end of the season, we are in the semi finals and we are going to give everything."

Martinelli's goal in Madrid was one of the biggest of his career and a highlight of a stop-start season for the 23-year-old which has been blighted by injury and dips in and out of form. It was his first goal in three months.

But now the fleet-footed forward is dreaming of delivering Arsenal a first ever Champions League success. He admitted: "I can't say it's my best season here for Arsenal. I had to play some games on the right which is not my favourite position but I can play there to help the team and I tried my best for the team while Bukayo Saka was out.

"There's a month and a half to go if I'm not wrong and I will just try to build the momentum and the win in Madrid will give us confidence. We will go for it.

"We've still got the league to play for, we will try to give our best to win the games and we're not going to go to the games to draw or something like that.

"We want to win every single game that we play and just try to build momentum. A club like Arsenal has to win the biggest titles and, yeah, we're going for it."

Reflecting on his stoppage-time goal to seal a win at the Bernabeu and set up a semi-final showdown with Paris Saint-Germain, who conquered Liverpool earlier in the tournament, Martinelli added: "I think it was the biggest night of my career because scoring at the Bernabeu is amazing and I'm really happy with the performance of the team and the goal as well.

"We are buzzing in the dressing room. We know what we did on the pitch, we tried our best and I think this team deserves it a lot.

"Since last year when we qualified for the Champions League, we knew we could do it. We know our qualities and the strength of the team that we have and we have amazing players so we have to go for it. We want to win it."