Arsene Wenger has admitted his defenders are suffering from a crisis of confidence as Arsenal’s 4-3 defeat by Blackburn made it the club’s worst start to a season for 58 years.

The Gunners manager blamed “basic errors” for three of the four goals conceded at Ewood Park and warned that the defence must recover their form – and quickly.

Wenger, who insisted he would not get drawn into questions about his future, said: “At this level, on set-pieces you cannot make the mistakes we made.

“That’s where we were guilty. The second, third and fourth goal are all goals where we made basic errors and you just have to focus on the next game.

“You could see that the confidence in our defenders has gone and it’s important to find it back.

“We have the potential to do well, you could see that so overall I believe it’s important that we get our confidence back quickly.

“It’s very difficult to accept that you lose a game when you have that much domination, that many chances. It’s unbelievable.”