Mikel Arteta lamented his side’s lack of “magic moments” after that 0-0 draw — the same phrase he used after the Champions League quarter-final defeat by Bayern Munich in April. But are those moments absent partly because his main magician, Saka, is too far away from goal too often?

There are moments when a manager feels like he must simply obey his instincts and perhaps trust a little in the game’s capacity for drama, which may well be what persuaded Mikel Arteta to substitute his captain and chief creator Martin Odegaard just after the hour.

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