Arsene Wenger threw in the towel and admitted it was unlikely Arsenal can win the title after last night s 2-1 defeat at Tottenham. It was only the second time in 14 years Wenger has tasted a league defeat at White Hart Lane, but it has almost certainly

Arsene Wenger threw in the towel and admitted it was "unlikely" Arsenal can win the title after last night's 2-1 defeat at Tottenham.

It was only the second time in 14 years Wenger has tasted a league defeat at White Hart Lane, but it has almost certainly ended his side's season.

The Gunners now lie six points behind leaders Chelsea with just four games remaining.

"We lost a game we couldn't afford to lose in the title race," said Wenger, whose side dominated possession but created few chances until the final 10 minutes of the game.

"That shows that we're not mature enough because you can't afford to lose this type of game if you want to win the championship.

"There's too much to do now - we're very unlikely now to win the championship. We'll continue to fight but even a point wasn't enough against Tottenham - we needed three."

Nicklas Bendtner's late strike set up a grandstand finish but goals by Danny Rose and Gareth Bale either side of the break earned Harry Redknapp's side the three points.

To add to Wenger's woes, Thomas Vermaelen could miss the rest of the season after limping off with a calf injury.

But the Arsenal boss will have been heartened by an excellent display from veteran defender Sol Campbell, despite constant barracking from the home crowd, and substitute Robin van Persie, who excelled after making his first appearance of 2010 following five months out with an ankle injury.

The Dutchman saw Heurelho Gomes make two wonder saves late on and Wenger added: "Van Persie has not kicked a ball in five months in a team and you could see straight away that he gives us something different and special.

"Our bad luck is that in the final sprint we have many good players out and it is too much.

"In the first half we were 1-0 down and a bit unlucky because we never felt under threat. We had a lot of possession we could not turn into dangerous situations.

"Until Van Persie came on and transformed our game in the final third, we had a lot of possession but were relatively inefficient because our passing was not quick enough."

The Gunners travel to Wigan Athletic on Sunday, kick off 1.30pm.