Arsenal goalkeeper Petr Cech has admitted that his side have a "mountain to climb" to bridge the gap to the Champions League places following their 2-1 defeat at the hands of Bournemouth this afternoon.

The Gunners are winless in their last five games across all competitions and fell to their sixth league defeat of the season at the Vitality Stadium - a result which leaves them eight points adrift of the top four and five behind Tottenham Hotspur in fifth.

Cech acknowledged that he could have done more to prevent Bournemouth's opening goal and confirmed that the pressure is growing on his side with each disappointing result.

"The situation becomes very dangerous for us because we want to be in the top four at least," Cech told the club's official website.

"When you lose games like we have so far this season away from home, where we were in a position to win, you leave yourself a mountain to climb. With every game comes a bit more pressure, so hopefully we will manage to get the ready for the next one, win it and kick from there.

"Obviously the first one I'm disappointed with because I thought I was going to cut the cross on time. [Callum] Wilson arrived faster in front of me. It's a matter of split seconds but I think I should have done better on that.

"The second one had an element of luck. It was a good long ball behind but it was everybody's ball and it fell right in front of the player and he managed to shoot it very hard and squeeze it through my body. In that one, we were a bit unlucky. They rode their luck, they worked very hard all day and in the end, they got a big reward."

Arsenal will renew their search for a first win of 2018 when they host Crystal Palace on Saturday.