Silvestre debut could be delayed once more



Arsenal fans may have to wait a little longer for the debut of Mikael Silvestre.

The defender has yet to play for Arsène Wenger’s side after signing from Manchester United on August 20 but his manager had suggested the 31-year-old would be available for the trip to Blackburn this Saturday.

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However, speaking exclusively to Arsenal TV Online on Thursday, Wenger revealed Silvestre had suffered a small problem and may wait until the midweek trip to Dynamo Kyiv before making his bow.

“We had a minor setback with him,” said the manager. "But if he is not available for Saturday he will be OK for Wednesday certainly.”

The rigours of the international break have cost Arsenal the services of Carlos Vela and there is a doubt over Samir Nasri, who missed the French win over Serbia because of a knee problem. Apart from that the manager had a relatively clean bill of health when he spoke on Thursday lunchtime.

“At the moment I do not know about everybody because some players finished their game at 4am, for example Carlos Vela in Mexico,” he said. “I count him out completely but overall it looks good. The only injury news that we have is Nasri, who could not play last night for France. We have to assess him later.”