Arsenal may have squandered their Premier League title advantage - but their defeat to Manchester City shows they are well in the fight.
That's the view of former Gunners duo Perry Groves and Adrian Clarke, who loved what they saw in Sunday's 2-1 defeat at the Etihad.
Mikel Arteta's men had the chance against Bournemouth in the fixture prior to briefly go 12 points clear at the top with six games to go.
But having lost by the same scoreline to the Cherries and the Citizens in back-to-back matches, the Gunners are now just three clear of Pep Guardiola's men.
And the North London outfit could now be knocked off first place should City, who have been top of the table for just six days this season, win away at Burnley on Wednesday night - live on talkSPORT.
Gooners around the globe are already fretting they have blown their best chance to win a first top-flight title since 2004.
However, talkSPORT's Inside Gooners panel remain more than hopeful that Arsenal can end 22 years of pain - despite the tide appearing to turn in City's favour.
Arsenal have been accused of boring, negative football in recent months - with there being the expectation that they would play for a draw at the Etihad.
But the visitors would have walked away feeling hard done by with the result having hit the woodwork twice in the second half through Eberechi Eze and Gabriel Magalhaes.
Meanwhile Kai Havertz, who scored the opener, missed two gilt-edged chances as Arsenal took the game to the Carabao Cup holders.
It was Arsenal's shift in mindset in being on the front foot rather than sitting back that left Groves and Clarke confident of an upturn in form.
Speaking in the latest episode, Clarke said: "I'm feeling like it's not done [title race], I'm feeling as if there's plenty more life in the season yet.
"And weirdly, even though the result was not what any of us wanted, I feel slightly more positive about our prospects of winning the league, now, than I did ahead of the game.
"And I know that doesn't make sense, but there were definitely good bits that we can sort of hang on a little bit moving forward, so I'm feeling OK."
Groves then remarked: "I'm feeling a lot more positive than what I was on my five-and-a-half-journey from the Etihad!"
Echoing similar thoughts, Arsenal fan and broadcaster Clive Palmer then stated: "In a strange way, these games are quite clarifying, because you see what you've got, and you maybe see a little bit of what you haven't got.
"Walking into this game, maybe I actually underplayed how important performance is, we've had some really good results with poor performance, we didn't have a good result [at City], but the performance was really encouraging.
"Looking forward now, I can see plans in my mind about how we're going to play, what we're going to do, whereas before this game, I felt we lost ourselves a little bit on the pitch.
"But we definitely refound ourselves, everything about who we are was rediscovered, and so from that basis, your next step is really simple, just get one win, that's what it's all about.
"Get one win, and then we can plan after that, and that's what the focus this week should be."
For Groves, who won two First Division titles at Highbury, he believes that Arsenal's display at the Etihad was a statement that they can go all the way.
He said: "The whole game changed on the minute-and-a-half to two minutes where Havertz goes through, brilliant pass from [Martin] Odegaard, he should score, brilliant save from [Gianluigi] Donnarumma, and then the follow-up save from [Gabriel] Martinelli.
"And then with Eze hitting the inside of the post, if that goes in at 1-1 and we go 2-1 up, it's a different game and then the Etihad then quietens completely down.
"I had a 20-minute walk [after the game] which was the worst walk of my life, but then I had the think tank car journey home where you actually have time to reflect, and the longer the journey got, the more my mood changed and the more positive I got.
"And I thought, 'Actually, we've made a statement here,' if you was a neutral [fan], that would have been a brilliant game to watch, because we actually created mayhem in their backyard.
"That's what we've got to do at the Emirates [in upcoming game against Newcastle], and the players should be sitting there, disappointed they got beat, but proud of their performance.
"And thinking, 'Actually, we can go and roll over teams now,' that's what we've got to do."
Later in the show, Groves added: "You can't criticise Arteta for the philosophy that he went out with, he thought, 'Right, we're going to make a statement here.'
"From now until the end of the season, he's got to go bold with his team selections, where people were surprised he had Eze and Odegaard in the same side.
"He's got to do it at home, he's got to make substitutions earlier, which he has been [doing].
"It's a weird thing, getting beat 2-1, but I still think there is a momentum that you can find from losing 2-1.
"Because we all did the show [before City match], and we all said, 'If we ain't going to get a result, you need a performance to hang onto something.'
"We can look at that performance and go, 'Yeah, actually, Arsenal fans have got something to hang on to.'"
It was Erling Haaland who once again proved to be Arsenal's thorn in their side, having now scored in four consecutive league games against them.
Though his eventual winner wasn't without controversy, as he was spotted grabbing the shirt of Gabriel to make space for the shot as he slipped his low strike beyond the outstretched arm of David Raya.
But despite Gabriel also being involved in the physical tussle, Clarke has stated that VAR should have intervened and ruled out the goal.
Despite Groves believing the winner was fair, Clarke raged: "I think it's 100 per cent a foul.
"The reason I say it, they're both pulling each other initially, so that's why people are saying, 'It's 50/50.'
"But Gabriel had actually stopped pulling him, and at that moment, he [Haaland] has grabbed the shirt of Gabriel, and it's virtually coming off his neck.
"If you pause it, there is only one player holding the shirt of the other."
He concluded his argument by saying: "It's great centre-forward play, but I'm telling you now, if a defender pulls the shirt of a forward like that, it's a pen.
"But I'm not crying about it, it's one of those."
