Former Manchester United and England centre-back Rio Ferdinand has admitted that he believes Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta lacks trust in his players ahead of tonight's UEFA Europa League clash against Olympiacos.
The Gunners, who progressed to the last-16 of the competition by getting the better of Portuguese giants Benfica in the last round, will travel to Greece looking to put one foot in the quarter-finals ahead of next week's second-leg.
Although Arsenal will fancy their chances of inflicting revenge on the Greek heavyweights following their Europa League exit at their hands last season, the Gunners know only too well that they will be in for a stern test.
If they are to deliver the goods this evening and put themselves in a strong position ahead of next week's second-leg, they will need Bukayo Saka to be at full throttle.
That is according to former Manchester United ace Ferdinand, who has pinpointed Saka's importance to this Arsenal team, insisting that when he hasn't performed this season neither have the Gunners.
With that said, Ferdinand has questioned the trust Arteta may or may not have for his players.
"If Saka’s not doing it, Arsenal haven’t performed this year," Ferdinand said, as quoted by the Daily Express. "But Arteta must look at the squad like a promiscuous girlfriend.
"He just must lack so much trust and faith in them.
"He can’t trust them at all, because he doesn’t know what’s going to happen at the moment.
"He could do the best team talk of his life but they’re going to go out there and do their own thing and it doesn’t seem to be coming together.
"The mad thing is I like Arsenal, I love some of the players there: Auba [Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang], Saka, [Gabriel] Martinelli, [Emile] Smith Rowe. I can go on and on with all these names.
"[Thomas] Partey, that’s another one, he’s never fit! He keeps coming back and breaking down.
"They’ve got good players there but for some reason, I don’t know what’s happening, it just isn’t coming together consistently at the moment."
Fortunately for Arteta, the only injury concern he has ahead of tonight's tussle with Olympiakos is the fitness of Smith Rowe. The youngster has recently been struggling with a hip injury but could make a return this evening.
Speaking on Wednesday, Arteta said: "He is close to returning. He is going to have a full session today [Wednesday] to see if he can be involved for tomorrow's game.
"After training, we will know exactly where we are with him."
Should the youngster be passed fit, Arteta will have every member of his first-team squad available for selection this evening.
