Arsenal battled to a 1-1 draw at Anfield before Christmas and yet trail Liverpool by five points after a poor festive period.

The Gunners welcome Crystal Palace to the Emirates on Saturday on a three-match losing streak in all competitions and Arteta insisted his young squad have to rediscover their consistency quickly.

“We better start to pick up points that is for sure, if we want to be up there, to start to have consistently three points on the board. We know that at this level, you cannot have more slip-ups at this level,” Arteta said.

“We want to cut that (lead) as quick as possible and every time you lose, the next most important thing is to win. We have not managed to do that and that is the reality and we have to face it.

“We have done a lot of things to try to do that and to produce as much as possible in the games and as little as possible from the opponent, which has happened, but in the end you have to win the games and that hasn’t happened.”