Silvestre: French flair won't match our winning ways

As Arsene Wenger has established a reputation for importing some of the best young French talent we must assume that Mikael Silvestre simply slipped through the Highbury net.

That other collector of Gallic talent, Gerard Houllier, wanted Silvestre for Liverpool but the player decided to take his chances at Old Trafford. That was four years ago and, since his £3.5million move from Internazionale, he has earned a reputation as a defender of unobtrusive authority. Just the type of defender, in fact, that might have been useful as Arsenal tumbled to a 3-0 Champions League defeat against his old Italian club. That defeat hurt and Silvestre knows that United will confront an Arsenal team seeking retribution in the season's first League clash of the heavyweights at Old Trafford on Sunday.

It's widely acknowledged at United that their softly spoken Frenchman knows more about Arsenal than anyone else at the club. He played with Thierry Henry in the France Under-17 side and he and Sylvain Wiltord were team-mates at Rennes for two seasons. His elevation to the full France side also brings him into regular contact with Arsenal's two other big names - Patrick Vieira and Robert Pires. "I know the French contingent at Highbury really well," he said. "Perhaps I'm more able than anyone at our club to read what they might do on the pitch. I can certainly take a good guess."

Sometimes, of course, he guesses wrongly. In the last three seasons, for instance, Henry has scored six goals against United in Premiership matches. "He's a real threat to even the best defenders," said Silvestre, whose move from left-back to central defence means that he'll be marking his France team-mate on Sunday.

"I've known Thierry since he was 16 or 17 and we play together in the national side. He's got everything a top quality striker needs. He has power and technique. I rate him up there with Ruud van Nistelrooy. They're the top two and I envisage another battle between them to finish as the top scorer in the Premiership.

"When he first went to Arsenal he was playing on the wing and didn't have the same goal threat. Arsene Wenger knew him better than anyone from their time together at Monaco and thought he'd do better in a central role. He was right."