Silvestre can be father figure to young guns

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The French boss admits inexperience cost his side dearly at the end of last season, when they fell away to hand the Premier League title to Manchester United and exited the Champions League at the quarter-final stage.

But Wenger hopes the £750,000 capture of Silvestre, 31, from United will give his squad the nous to compete with the rest of the Big Four this season. He said: "I signed him because he can complete our team with his experience.

"There were lots of reasons for why we fell away last season. One of the factors was a lack of experience and nervousness. I hope Mikael can help with that."

Silvestre will miss tomorrow's match at Fulham as he is not yet match fit following his switch from Old Trafford. And Wenger has seen his preparations further disrupted by the midweek round of international friendlies, which left him with just one senior player - Denilson - at training this week.

But he expects his side to make a more emphatic statement of intent than last week's jittery win over West Brom. Wenger, speaking at the launch of Arsenal's partnership with Teenage Cancer Trust, added: "We do have a short squad but I am sure we can fight for the title provided the players stay fit."

Arsenal have, meanwhile, loaned Armand Traore, 18, to Portsmouth for the rest of the season.