Mikel Arteta has revealed why he chose to take Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard off the pitch in the second half of their clash with Everton.
With Manchester City in the midst of a historic slump and Liverpool dropping points against Fulham, the Gunners had a golden opportunity to regain their title title on Saturday.
Everton traveled to the Emirates having won just one of their away games in the Premier League this season while languishing close to the relegation zone.
However, despite dominating possession throughout the game and creating numerous chances, the home side were unable to find a way forward.
With an opening goal still eluding them after the break, Arteta made the brave decision to remove his captain and replace the Norwegian with teenager Ethan Nwaneri just after the hour mark.
Declan Rice also made way and was replaced by Jorginho, but Arsenal were still unable to break the deadlock and the match ended goalless.
The move sparked speculation that Odegaard could still be nursing an injury after recently returning from a spell on the sidelines, but Arteta insisted the decision was purely tactical.
'With Declan I had to take it off because he felt something.' Arteta explained.
'With Martin it was tactical. I understand. If Ethan comes in and scores, it's a great sub. If he doesn't, you've taken away your captain. It's football.'
The decision marked the fifth consecutive league match in which Odegaard has been sidelined since returning from injury, with a 1-1 draw against Chelsea last month being the only time the club captain has managed to reach 90.
Due to consecutive draws, Arsenal is six points behind leaders Liverpool, who still have a game in hand.
Arteta vented his frustration at his side's failure to find a goal to keep pace with their title rivals.
He continued: “Very disappointing not to win the match. I mean, we don't concede shots on target or off target, they don't run at all, you don't concede set pieces, you have chances. It's about scoring goals and we didn't do that today.
'We opened them up, we had the chances, in the end you have to put them away. We had to run back.
'High pressure, we regained every ball. I can't ask for much more from the team. Everton have a point, I think they should be happy.
'We fully deserved to win the match. We didn't concede any shots. We dominated the game. When we created big chances we didn't score.
'Look at the intensity of what we generated in the second half. [Frustrating] especially if we admit zero [chances] and dominate the game so much.”
The Gunners will look to get back to winning ways when they host Crystal Palace in the EFL Cup quarter-final at the Emirates on Wednesday, before traveling to Selhurst Park to take on the Eagles in the league three days later.
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