Riise refuses to throw in the towel

"We never give up. Cowards give up," he said. "Of course it will be hard to catch up with Manchester United, but at one point last season we were many points behind Chelsea, and in May we were only nine points behind."

Riise's attitude is a positive one, and shows the determination in the camp to pull the socks up and turn around the away form that has let us down this season.

But to be fair, the Arsenal defeat came after five consecutive victories, and we should be able to pick up points in the remainder of the games leading up to Christmas.