The defender limped out of the action at the Emirates Stadium after just 30 minutes on Saturday, with youngster Kieran Gibbs coming on in his place.

Gael Clichy and Kolo Toure both missed the 3-1 victory over Argyle through injury, with Silvestre's absence giving manager Arsene Wenger an additional defensive headache.

Although Silvestre will now be sidelined until the end of January, Wenger is hoping Clichy will be fit to return against Bolton Wanderers on Saturday.

bit short

"It is a thigh problem," Wenger said. "[He will be out for] Three weeks, 21 days.

"I have to look at it but at the moment with the injuries we are a little bit short everywhere. I hope Kolo will not be out for a very long time because he has an inflamed groin.

"On the left-hand side we are a bit short but Gael Clichy should be back for next week."

Wenger does not think his side are in the position to "choose" their competitions this season. In the past the Gunners manager has been known to field fringe players in the FA Cup, preferring to rest his stars for Barclays Premier League and European fixtures.

But the 59-year-old does not think that Arsenal can afford that luxury this season and was keen to keep confidence high with a win against the Pilgrims.

He added: "I feel that we are not, at the moment, in a position where we can choose the competitions. If that happens we will do it later but at the moment I felt it was just important for the club and the team to go through.

"I feel that slowly the team is coming up again and growing in confidence and I didn't want to cut that confidence. I was conscious that it was a difficult game first of all and, secondly, we couldn't afford to slip up here, at home, in the third round because we have had enough negative publicity.

"You could see that, with some results like Chelsea and Manchester City, that it's very tight, and our game was not easy.

"If you go through to the Champions League quarter-finals and then to the semi-finals, then you have a choice to make between the FA Cup and the Champions League. But, at the moment, we are not in that position.

"I didn't have too much choice. If you see what I had on the bench, I rested one player in [Emmanuel] Adebayor, but apart from that I didn't rest many.

"At the moment we have Denilson out and Song out and when they are back we will be maybe a bit stronger. But we are a bit short at the moment with long-term injuries. Cesc Fabregas was not expected, and Rosicky and Walcott as well coming back in March only, and that's a lot."