Arsenal.      3 :  1.   Leicester

To many, the idea of Mesut Ozil wearing the captain’s armband feels alien. In the Premier League, we like our captains to be ranters and ravers, those trojans who crunch into challenges, command their team-mates and square up to the opposition.

Yet not every leader operates this way. Roy Keane once said that Eric Cantona ‘rarely said a word’ as Manchester United’s captain in the 1990’s, yet his quality and presence could lift his side in an instant.

Here at the Emirates Stadium, Ozil followed Cantona’s lead, transforming his team and altering the mood of the occasion by imposing his talent shortly. He did so by starting a move that he himself finished to equalise and from there, we witnessed a player scaling the highest peaks of his potential.

His slide-rule pass carved open Leicester for Arsenal’s second, releasing Hector Bellerin gloriously for Aubameyang’s first goal.

Arsenal’s third – as magical a goal as any we saw in the Arsene Wenger era – could almost be trademarked by Ozil. There was a balletic backheel to begin the move and a dainty dummy later on, as Alexandre Lacazette and Aubameyang also opened their showreel before the latter applied the finish.

In truth, Arsenal had been pulled here, there and everywhere by a vibrant Leicester City during a traumatic first half.

They trailed deservedly and Ozil, the captain for the night, appeared to be shrinking just as his side craved his input the most.

Before the match, all the ingredients appeared to be in place for Ozil to flourish. In the absence of Aaron Ramsey, Ozil returned from the wilderness of the right wing to his preferred central position. For the first time in the Premier League, he was the captain for the night. After a two-week international break owed to his very public breakdown of relations with Germany, the stage was set for an Ozil masterclass.

He was book-ended by the industry of Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Alex Iwobi, while the acceleration of Lacazette provided the potential for Ozil to provide those defence-splitting passes.

Yet for 44 minutes, this was a timid Ozil display in a team that appeared to be faltering.

The mind wandered back to the early days of the Emery era, when Ozil was substituted during the defeat at Chelsea and then the curious home match against West Ham, when the German was said to be ill but was still allowed to mingle in the Arsenal dressing room before the game.

The statisticians pointed out unflattering statistics. Before this match, Ozil’s figures were among the least impressive of the Premier League playmakers. He was still to create a goal for a team-mate this season and had carved only nine chances for his peers. David Silva, Willian and Gylfi Sigurdsson have each made 26 chances in the top-flight. This is the level at which Ozil should be operating for Arsenal yet his influence on this campaign has been decorative rather than defining. Yet here he was, failing to shine even when the team seemed perfectly designed for his benefit.

So the pattern seemed set to endure. As Arsenal became ragged during a disjointed first- half – it is not an overstatement to say they could have conceded three goals – Ozil’s influence diminished. One pass went straight out of play. He was not the only one. Mkhitaryan resembled the player that exasperated Jose Mourinho, lurking in the shadows when his team required inspiration.

But then the German came to life, grabbing this game in his hands and stamping his name all over the occasion. He drifted into space on the halfway line, escaping Wilfried Ndidi and then came a burst of acceleration. He touched the ball off to the right side, where Bellerin was raiding and he continued his run, timing his entrance into the penalty area perfectly to receive the return. Then his skill came to the forefront, as he opened up his body and steered the ball beautifully beyond Kasper Schmeichel.