Arsenal's resources have been left so stretched for Saturday's visit of Liverpool that Arsène Wenger is expected to hand the teenage defender Carl Jenkinson, who has made only seven career starts, all in League One, a Premier League debut for the game at the Emirates.

Wenger lost both Kieran Gibbs and Johan Djourou to hamstring injuries during the 1-0 Champions League qualifying victory over Udinese on Tuesday night, following Armand Traoré limping out of a reserve-team victory over Manchester United after nine minutes on Monday. None of the trio is likely to be available against Liverpool, leaving Jenkinson, a £1m signing from Charlton Athletic this summer, on the verge of a first top‑flight start.

The teenager impressed upon replacing Djourou – himself a half-time substitute for Gibbs – for the last 34 minutes against Udinese, though the elevation into the first team for such a key early-season league fixture, potentially to confront Luis Suárez, represents something of a daunting introduction.

Jenkinson arrived at the Emirates earmarked as a highly rated player for the future but his career to date has amounted to only eight league appearances for Charlton Athletic, one as a substitute, and four games in the Conference on loan at Eastbourne.

Yet, while Wenger continues to search for reinforcements for his depleted squad, there is a lack of viable alternatives at present. Arsenal are also weakened in midfield with Samir Nasri on the verge of joining Manchester City for around £22m, Cesc Fábregas sold to Barcelona and both Abou Diaby and Jack Wilshere still in rehabilitation over ankle injuries. Their absence has been compounded by the three-game suspension incurred by Alex Song for a stamp on the leg of Joey Barton during the draw at St James' Park on Saturday.

The midfielder accepted a charge of violent conduct on Wednesday over that incident and will now join the new signing Gervinho, who was sent off for slapping Barton later in the game, in missing the league games against Liverpool, Manchester United and Swansea City. Add to that the sales of Emmanuel Eboué to Galatasaray, Carlos Vela's loan to Real Sociedad and Nicklas Bendtner's anticipated imminent departure and Arsenal's squad appears in a state of flux. Indeed, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, an 18-year-old whose experience also does not extend beyond League One level, could also feature against Liverpool.

"We've had a couple of injuries and we have to hope they are not too bad," acknowledged Theo Walcott, who scored the team's winning goal against Udinese to offer some much needed encouragement. "We have got a fairly big squad but we don't want the squad to get lower and lower. Gibbsy and Johan have come off but the boss knows what he is doing and hopefully those players will be fit and ready to go again soon.

"It is important to have a mixture of experience and young players. The boss has picked off great players who we don't know where they have come from, so only time will tell what he is going to do. The mood is very good. We got a very good result at Newcastle (0-0) after going down to 10 men, a clean sheet tonight which was very good and we had young players come on and gain a bit of experience in the Champions League. Now we have got another very tough game against Liverpool at the weekend."

Wenger is unlikely to face censure from Uefa over communicating with his bench despite being suspended for Tuesday's game at the Emirates and the governing body is expected merely to issue a warning later on Thursday. The Arsenal manager appeared to breach the conditions of his one-match touchline ban – a legacy of a row with the referee Massimo Busacca during last season's exit to Barcelona – by contacting his assistant, Pat Rice, via phone calls made by the first-team coach, Boro Primorac, at his side.

Article 70 of Uefa's disciplinary regulations state that any banned manager may sit in the stands but "may not enter the dressing room, tunnel or technical area before or during the match, nor may he communicate with his team". Uefa will scrutinise the reports submitted by the referee and match delegate on Thursday but are expected to accept there had been a misunderstanding over the issue, though they could yet fine Wenger for failing to attend his post-match media duties.