Arsenal 0 Sunderland 0:
He was the man who wasn't there, airbrushed from Arsenal's history. Almost no one dared mention his name.
No one, that is, other than the Sunderland fans chanting 'He leaves when he wants, Robin van Persie, he leaves when he wants' and Arsene Wenger, who was admirably honest in his assessment of how much the striker will be missed.
But between Arsenal and their fans it seemed there was an unspoken pact not to dwell on the week's sorrow.
No way through: Arsenal dominated possession but were unable to force their way past Sunderland
MATCH FACTS
Arsenal: Szczesny, Jenkinson, Mertesacker, Vermaelen, Gibbs, Diaby (Ramsey 69), Arteta, Cazorla, Walcott (Arshavin 77), Gervinho, Podolski (Giroud 64).
Subs not used: Mannone, Andre Santos, Djourou, Coquelin.
Sunderland: Mignolet, Gardner, Cuellar, O'Shea, Richardson, Larsson (Meyler 78), Colback, Cattermole, McClean, Sessegnon (Saha 63), Campbell (Elmohamady 68).
Subs not used: Westwood, Wickham, Kilgallon, Bramble.
Referee: Chris Foy.
Attendance: 60,078.
There was an oblique reference to Van Persie when defender Thomas Vermaelen was announced as 'our new skipper'. This received the loudest roar of the afternoon.
And although everyone knew the damage inflicted by the exit of the captain, coming on the back of Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri leaving this time last year, the time for grieving was over and a new season awaited.
When £10million replacement Olivier Giroud was through on goal, eight yards out with eight minutes to play - having been played in delightfully by Santi Cazorla - he skewed his shot wide rather than finishing cleanly as he might have done last season for Montpellier, where he scored 25 goals.
Tempting though it must have been, there could be no comparison to Van Persie. Thoughts that Van Persie would have finished the chance, or that Arsenal might have won the game with their former talisman, must be banished, however compelling they are.
Bright start: Lukas Podolski put in a solid hour-long shift up front for his new club
'Maybe (people who say that) are right, maybe they are wrong,' said Wenger.
'You can never check that. We have played some draws at home with Van Persie, we have lost some games as well with Van Persie.
'But it's true that last year in every game he found something special.
'I never denied that we lost a world-class player and it's very difficult to replace. Lukas Podolski is not ready yet - physically he lacks a change of pace at the moment - but he has the quality. Giroud, you can see he has presence.
'But, look, Manchester United looked everywhere, they bought Van Persie at 29 years old because they realise that quality is difficult to find on the market.'
Attacking threat: The likes of Abou Diaby, Gervinho and Santi Cazorla all banged on the Sunderland door
There was more for Arsenal to be positive about after this draw than the smattering of boos at the end indicated.
Walcott had three chances - his best a shot into the sidenetting on 64 minutes - Abou Diaby shot wide on 28 minutes and Giroud went close on 76 minutes then missed late on.
Not all sides will defend as resolutely as Sunderland. Lee Cattermole marshalled his troops superbly, Jack Colback and Sebastian Larsson rarely faltering in midfield and centre-halves Carlos Cuellar and John O'Shea were generally sound.
Most encouraging for Arsenal was Cazorla, sparkling in the sunshine, the closest you might get to a Fabregas replacement. His every touch seemed to be a deft one or a switch of the play.
Running man: Theo Walcott was a thorn in the side of the visitors' defence for the most part
Old friends: Sebastian Larsson, formerly of Arsenal, tried his best to give Sunderland a presence in attack
'Basically, he created the chances,' said Wenger, who complained that his side lacked quality in the final third of the pitch. For 64 minutes Podolski looked bright and eager.
As early as the ninth minute he streaked away and struck a shot from 20 yards that Simon Mignolet did well to tip over. Then there was a curling 59th-minute free-kick, just over but dipping goalwards. At times he combined exquisitely with Cazorla, but at other times he threw his hands up in exasperation as Gervinho failed to read his intentions.
For Sunderland, there was an early chance for James McClean, whose snap-shot was well parried by Wojciech Szczesny. On 12 minutes the Polish keeper had to be on call again when Colback struck well from 20 yards.
Don't forget us: Jack Colback was at the heart of the good things being done by the Mackems
Manager Martin O'Neil said: 'In the first half we maybe should have done better with our chances, but in the second half Arsenal had most of the possession and we had to defend. But as we get stronger and better we need to do the attacking.'
There was a cameo for new signing Louis Saha but O'Neill has yet to bring in the names he wants, adding: 'Given that we were unable to get our squad up to strength, coming here was always going to be difficult.' Difficult, but not as hard as forgetting about your lost love.
He wasn't here, Robin van Persie, but everyone felt his absence
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