Arsenal's difficult week continued as Gervinho was sent off on his Gunners debut and they were unable to break down a stubborn Newcastle side.
The Ivorian striker was shown a red card with 14 minutes to go when he slapped Joey Barton after the pair had tangled in the penalty area.
Arsenal, who left Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri out of their squad, had struggled to create meaningful chances.
Robin van Persie had their best opening but his shot was deflected wide.
Attention after the game is sure to focus on Barton, who was stamped on by Alex Song in an incident missed by referee Peter Walton, but went down far too easily when he clashed with Gervinho.
The Newcastle midfielder also arguably instigated the incident when he remonstrated with Gervinho following a failed penalty appeal by the Arsenal frontman, dragging him to his feet.
But, although Wenger could claim the red card was a harsh decision, it must have been almost as frustrating for him to watch his side toil against an unambitious Newcastle side.
His preparations for the new season could hardly have been worse, with moves for Fabregas and Nasri, which had been rumoured all summer, beginning to look more concrete last week as the big kick-off approached
His decision to leave out that pair, plus the absence of Jack Wilshere through injury, left the Gunners with an arguably second-string midfield trio of Tomas Rosicky, Andrey Arshavin, Aaron Ramsey alongside Alex Song, and they quickly ran out of steam.
Before his untimely exit, Gervinho had made a lively debut, running at the Magpies defence and causing them plenty of problems, although he did fluff his lines when presented with an early shooting chance.
But, despite the Gunners being camped in the Magpies half and out-passing their opponents, they could not turn their vastly superior possession into clear-cut chances.
Probably their best first-half chances was snuffed out by a timely challenge by Steven Taylor, who did enough to put off Van Persie after his own clearance had bounced back off Fabricio Coloccini and back into the striker's path.
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