Arsene Wenger is not prepared to abandon his frugal Arsenal transfer policy in order to chase the title because the finances are not available.
The Gunners have come under the spotlight in the past fortnight following comprehensive defeats to top-flight silverware rivals Manchester United and Chelsea.
With Arsenal now nine points adrift of leaders Chelsea, it has been suggested that Wenger's faith in young, promising talent has been found wanting when compared to the riches of their London rivals.
But the Frenchman insists that, in an era when very few, if any, Premier League clubs are running at a financial profit, he will not give up his responsibility to invest in the future.
He said in The Sun ahead of Wednesday's crucial home meeting with Liverpool: "We've gone for a policy and need to be strong, patient and sometimes get knock-backs but still persist because it's the only way this football club can be run.
"I know everybody else is impatient. My job is to be patient and to work and to let people think if I do the right things or the wrong things and that's it. It's part of my job to live with that."
Wenger is adamant that he will not gamble with Arsenal's long-term stability as he claims he has no choice, having a dig at the levels of debt built at Chelsea under Roman Abramovich in the process.
He added: "We cannot show them because they can lose £150million. We cannot live like that.
"I don't know in what kind of world you live? Football lives in an artificial world at the moment.
"You know what the situation is. We have to live in a realistic world at Arsenal and we are very proud of that.
"If you go on high transfers, you go on high wages. It is linked. We cannot afford that."
Wenger is expected to complete a deal for Bordeaux's Marouane Chamakh in the summer, after a long, cagey pursuit of the striker, but he has been criticised for not finalising the move in the recent transfer window.
However, the Gunners boss said: "Look at what happened in this transfer market. Give me one big move? Zero.
"People ask me 'Why do you not buy a great striker?' But tell me one who has moved from one club to another, not one."
