This Saturday, Arsenal travel to Eastlands to face controversial former striker Emmanuel Adebayor and ex-centre-back Kolo Touré, who both departed The Emirates for the megabucks of Manchester City this summer.
And in this exclusive ZOO interview, Gunners defender Mikaël Silvestre sends out a friendly warning to his old teammates…

Arsenal are reunited with Emmanuel Adebayor and Kolo Touré this weekend. Are you missing them at all?
I miss them personally because they were good lads. But we have to respect their decisions and understand if you’re a big player, other clubs will always want you. The new players in their positions now have a chance to prove themselves.

Like Thomas Vermaelen? Is he actually better than Touré?
That’s not for me to judge, but what I can say is Thomas has come in and fitted straight into the team. He’s adapted to the way we play and picked up Premier League football very quickly.

But has The Emirates become a happier place since their departures?
No, the dressing room is the same. It was difficult for Emmanuel Adebayor because he was linked with other clubs since last summer. Both players’ attitudes were fantastic until the very end.

Having trained with Adebayor on a daily basis, have you got him sussed?
Well, it only helps us to know how good a striker he is. We will definitely be making it tough for him, as we don’t want him taking the mickey after the game! One thing is for sure – we have to stop him scoring.

Wouldn’t you rather still have Adebayor doing his celebration dances for Arsenal?
Ha ha. We’ve still got Emmanuel Eboue, so we’re not missing out on any dance moves!

Is there a lot of pressure on Arsenal’s young squad to win a trophy this season?
I’m sure the youngsters want to prove they were chosen for a reason, but we don’t think like that. We just encourage them to grow and you can see players like Jack Wilshere are doing really well.

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