Forget Thierry and go out and fill your boots, Wenger tells forwards

Arsene Wenger has called on young striking talents Emmanuel Adebayor, Robin van Persie and Theo Walcott to prove they can fill the void left by Thierry Henry's summer departure.

The trio combined to produce the first goal - scored by Adebayor - in a 2-0 win against Barnet on Saturday as Wenger's side cruised to a first win of pre-season at Underhill.

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It was their first game since Henry's £16million departure for Barcelona and since then Wenger has signed striker Eduardo Da Silva for £8m and Bacary Sagna for £7.5m.

But the Arsenal boss urged his three young forwards to seize their chance, saying: "There are some players like Van Persie, Adebayor and Walcott who need to raise their game when you have a big departure.

"They want to prove to me they have the quality. I believe it and I want them to express it. I am convinced we have the quality and, with great belief, we can do very well. That will decide our season.

"When you lose a world-class player you can only try to get your team to a level where you can compete again. What it means is some of the other players have to stand up for more responsibility.

"We want them to create an efficiency in our attacking play and replace the 25 goals that Thierry Henry gave us every season.

"They will have to share the responsibilities. We can compensate by focusing more on team play and not relying too much on one individual."

Holland Youth striker Nacer Barazite, 17, added the second Arsenal goal after the interval.

Wenger's only worry was a clumsy tackle by Barnet winger Jason Puncheon, which forced midfielder Denilson off the pitch in the second half, but the manager expects the Brazilian to be OK.

Jose Reyes, meanwhile, is likely to sign permanently for Real Madrid this week.