Arsene Wenger faces a defensive shortage when Arsenal start their Premier League season at home to Liverpool on Super Sunday, live on Sky Sports 1 HD from 3.30pm.

Per Mertesacker (knee) and Gabriel (ankle) are missing while Laurent Koscielny has not played in pre-season after reaching the final of Euro 2016 with France.

Live Nissan Super Sunday

Calum Chambers and Rob Holding have featured regularly in pre-season at the heart of Arsenal's defence and could be called upon by Wenger.

"I have a few options at the back that you have seen in pre-season," Wenger said. "It's basically the players we have available, that are quite young. But they want to do well.

Jamie Redknapp looks ahead to Arsenal's Super Sunday match with Liverpool, live on Sky Sports 1 HD from 3.30pm

"Rob [Holding] has played in the Championship. That's a good experience for a centre-back, to deal with one level higher."

Meanwhile, Liverpool have injury concerns of their own with Daniel Sturridge and James Milner struggling to be fit for the trip to the Emirates.

Striker Sturridge missed the Reds' final two pre-season fixtures last weekend with a hip injury which flared up again at training on Thursday while former England colleague Milner, who recently retired from international football, sustained a bruised heel during Saturday's 4-0 win over Barcelona.

Image: Liverpool could be without England duo Daniel Sturridge (l) and James Milner (r)

Team news

Olivier Giroud is likely to be missing for Arsenal while Danny Welbeck and Carl Jenkinson (both knee) are also sidelined.

Granit Xhaka and Holding could make their debuts, but Jack Wilshere is expected to be short for the game despite recovering from an injury in pre-season.

Image: Granit Xhaka is set to make his Premier League debut on Sunday.

Dejan Lovren has trained fully after a knock to increase Klopp's own options in defence.

Summer signing Marko Grujic, another who picked up a slight niggle during last weekend's double header, also returned to training on Thursday.

Opta stats

Arsenal have lost just one of their last nine Premier League meetings with Liverpool (W4 D4 L1).

Liverpool have only won one of their last 20 away trips to Arsenal in all competitions (W1 D8 L11) and have collected just eight points in 10 Premier League games at the Emirates Stadium.

The Gunners have lost just two of their last 15 home games on opening day (W10 D3), although those defeats have come in the last three attempts.

Image: Rob Holding (l) and Calum Chambers (r) could feature for Arsenal

Liverpool have scored more Premier League goals than any other team in 2016 so far (41).

Roberto Firmino has had a hand in 13 goals (nine goals, four assists) in 15 Premier League appearances in 2016 so far, including two goals versus Arsenal in January.

This will be Arsene Wenger's 21st season in charge of Arsenal since taking the job in September 1996 - no other current Premier League manager has been in charge of their current club for more than five consecutive seasons.

Merson's prediction

The injuries are a major concern for Arsenal. They have one centre-forward in Olivier Giroud when their rivals have three or four each. Don't tell me Alexis Sanchez and Theo Walcott are centre forwards. They might be able to step in for one or two games but you are not going to win the Premier League that way.

Image: Theo Walcott could start up front in the absence of Olivier Giroud

As for Liverpool, they are decent going forward, they are quick and score goals on the break, but again, defensively they are not too good either. I see plenty of goals in this one.

PAUL PREDICTS: 2-2 (Sky Bet odds 12/1)