Ex- Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand has insisted that Arsenal's hopes of Champions League qualification next season rest on the fitness of young duo Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe.
The Gunners are certainly in the race for the coveted fourth spot and are now level on points with fifth-placed West Ham and even boast three games in hand over David Moyes' side.
Their last league outing saw Mikel Arteta's men register a crucial 2-1 home victory over Brentford in a clash that saw both Smith Rowe and Saka get on the scoresheet.
Smith Rowe opened the scoring with a delightful right-footed finish that marked his ninth Premier League goal of the season, his 10th across all competitions.
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Saka's thunderous left-footed effort followed shortly after to hand the Gunners a two-goal cushion until the latter stages of stoppage-time.
Ferdinand has claimed that both of Arsenal's academy graduates will be targeted by "big clubs" in the summer, but has given credit to Arteta for placing his trust in the two youngsters.
"What I liked about this weekend is that all the teams going for fourth, bar West Ham, got positive results," Ferdinand told his Vibe with Five podcast.
"You’ve got to perform now. Spurs won a game you didn’t expect them to win, Arsenal won and United won. I think it’s going to be out of those three to finish fourth.
"West Ham will put up a fight but come up a bit short just because of the [lack of] depth in their squad… but they’ll finish above Arsenal."
The six-time Premier League winner went on to speculate how Arsenal may fare if both Saka and Smith Rowe were to get injured.
"I think Saka and Smith Rowe, if anything happens to them they [Arsenal] are bang in trouble.
"ESR is doing his thing, I’ve loved him from the beginning of the season. I think he’s one other big clubs will be looking at."
Arteta's Arsenal reign has been turbulent at times but Ferdinand feels there has been evident progress under the Spaniard's stewardship.
"I think Mikel Arteta is building something there, all jokes aside.
"Mikel Arteta is creating an environment there that I feel players are going to want to play in.
"I feel the young players he’s got there who he’s building around are exciting.
"I think this window is going to be big for them, they’ve got to get it right, it depends where they finish and what type of player they’re going to have to go for."
