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.
Calum Chambers is set to partner Nacho Monreal in central defence while new signing Rob Holding is also in contention.
"Mertesacker is out for I believe four months," Wenger said. "Gabriel is six to eight weeks. It’s a bit better than expected because he doesn’t need surgery. He’s ruptured his ankle ligaments and we thought it could be four months but it’s not that long.
"I have a few options at the back, that you have seen in pre-season. It’s basically the players we have available, that are quite young. But they want to do well.
"Rob Holding has played in the Championship. That’s a good experience for a centre-back, to deal with one level higher."
French striker Olivier Giroud is also likely to be missing after recently returning to training but Mesut Ozil is included in the provisional squad.
New boy Granit Xhaka is in line to make his competitive debut but Danny Welbeck and Carl Jenkinson (both knee) are sidelined.
Arsenal provisional squad: Cech, Ospina, Debuchy, Bellerin, Holding, Chambers, Gibbs, Monreal, Coquelin, Elneny, Xhaka, Cazorla, Ramsey, Wilshere, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ozil, Iwobi, Sanchez, Campbell, Walcott, Akpom.
