It set the trend for a day of love and harmony in which neither team felt capable of inflicting a mortal blow on the opposition (though only one team was trying). Bright starts to both halves soon gave way to uninspired finishes in more than one sense.
Manuel Almunia - 6 - Barely tested.
Bacary Sagna - 5 - Not much to do defensively, but what happened to the accurate crosser of the ball we saw last season?
Kolo Toure - 6 - Again not much to do, but tried his best to inject some urgency into our attacks.
William Gallas - 6 - Had him down to score the winner from a Kolo cross - where's the romance. Handled Cole very well.
Gael Clichy - 5 - Another game another worrying lapse in concentration that almost proved costly though he least he made up for his mistake. As for crossing - see Sagna.
Emmanuel Eboue - 6 - Lively start, shame about the shooting and the injury.
Denilson - 7 - Continues in the same consistent vein and getting very little credit for it.
Abou Diaby - 6 - Reckless tackling and injury-proneness aside, he is certainly looking more like the central midfielder we signed 3 years ago rather than an auxillary left winger.
Samir Nasri - 6 - Played most of the game in his favoured central position without the impact of previous games.
Emmanuel Adebayor - 5 - If he had put away that chance all would have been forgiven, as it is we are still desperately in need of the real Ade to show up.
Nicklas Bendtner - 6 - If he struggled starting in the centre, Nick was playing well on the right and slightly unlucky to be hauled off so early.
Substitutes:
Carlos Vela - 5 - Had a big chance to claim a place in the side but ran down too many blind alleys.
Robin van Persie - 6 - Even playing as a sub posed more of a threat than those on for 90 mins.
Alexandre Song - n/a - short but, um, short.