Gabriel injury: Arsenal defender gives Arsene Wenger headache ahead of new season after suffering ankle ligament damage in win over Manchester City

ARSENE WENGER is facing a defensive crisis just six days before the big kick-off after Gabriel was carried off with ankle ligament damage tonight.

The Brazilian centre-half went down in agony following a stoppage time challenge from behind by City striker Kelechi Iheanacho.

Wenger has already ruled him out of Sunday's Premier League opener against Liverpool and fears a much longer lay-off.

And with Per Mertesacker already sidelined for the rest of the year by a knee injury and Laurent Koscielny only returning to training on Monday, this latest setback leaves Arsenal in meltdown.

Gabriel left Gothenburg's Ullevi Stadium on crutches with his left leg encased in a protective boot and will undergo a scan this morning after flying straight back to London tonight.

Wenger said: "He was in so much pain that he he could not talk on the pitch and I hope that is not the sign of bad news.

"It's an ankle sprain but we just need to know how serious the ligament damage is. We've not made a full diagnosis yet.

"We know that he will be out next week and with Mertesacker out and Koscielny not in full training, we are short at centre-back.

"I have said many times that we are in the market for new players but it not an easy market for us."

Wenger was particularly unhappy with the timing of Gabriel's injury and said: "We always ask not to play injury time in friendly games, but the referee did it anyway."

This latest blow means that the heat is really on Wenger to complete the signing of Valencia's German international centre-half Shkrodan Mustafi in the face of rival interest from Chelsea.

And he is not the only one in the market for a centre-half after City's makeshift back-four left Pep Guardiola with plenty of food for thought.

With Vincent Kompany and Nicolas Otamendi both injured and Eliaquim Mangala completely out of favour with the new boss, it was left to Fernando and Aleksandr Otamendi to form an unlikely central defensive partnership against lively Arsenal.

Yet born men struggled all evening to deal with the pace of Alexis Sanchez and Theo Walcott before teenager Tosin Adarabioyo came on and gave a goal away with a disastrous pass across his own area.

"Fernando and Kolarov have never played in central defence in their life before tonight and we made some mistakes that we have to improve on," Guardiola said.