IT’S still only February, albeit only just, and already Arsenal’s season is at risk of fizzling out.

Mikel Arteta admitted that his side “lacked that spark” on Wednesday following the frustrating stalemate at Nottingham Forest. The goalless draw was compounded by events at Anfield, where Liverpool beat Newcastle 2-0 to move 13 points clear at the top of the Premier League.

It means that with 11 games to go Arsenal’s title race has been run. It’s over. Finished.

But a defiant, perhaps deluded, or more likely considered, Arteta is refusing to publicly crown Liverpool champions just yet. “It’s about what we can do, and it was like this a week ago, two weeks before, and three months ago,” insisted the Gunners boss. “That’s the only thing that we can control if we want to have a chance to do anything.

“Today [at Forest] 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 have to be ready.”

Deep down Arteta knows that Arsenal’s domestic season is over, but he now has the task of keeping his players in a positive mindset ahead of their trip to PSV Eindhoven in the last 16 of the Champions League.

The Gunners take on the Dutch champions at the Philips Stadion on Tuesday, before tackling the second leg in north London eight days later.

Assessing the task that lies ahead, Arteta added: “We are very much looking forward to it.

“It’s a competition that we’ve performed tremendously well in this season. We fought hard to get into this position, and, as we enter the knockout stages, the building starts now.”

That building process includes solving a problem that has plagued Arsenal’s season: finding the back of the net.

It’s an issue that Arteta is well aware of; how could he not be with fans, pundits and journalists reminding the Spaniard daily that the club is paying the price for not signing a striker.

“For many years, that [our defensive record] has not been a problem, but in order to win, you have to score goals,” acknowledged Arteta.

“We need to find ways to convert more chances and get goals from different areas of the pitch. That’s something we need to improve.”

Offering an update on Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka, Arteta said: “Let’s see how they evolve in the next few weeks to make the right steps, and then after that, they’ve been out for a long, long time, so we’re going to have to integrate them gradually. They are evolving well but they’re still a bit far.”