Arsenal fans had every right to be scared for their club when the starting line-ups were announced for Saturday's FA Cup final with Chelsea.

With Laurent Koscielny, Gabriel and Shkodran Mustafi all out injured, Arsene Wenger was forced into selecting a back three of Rob Holding, Per Mertesacker and Nacho Monreal.

And as we know, Holding is only 21-years-old, Mertesacker hadn't started a game all season, and Monreal is a left-back by trade.

It didn't look good, especially with Diego Costa, Eden Hazard and Pedro all starting for Chelsea, but somehow Arsenal kept them at bay and emerged victorious.

Mertesacker's performance drew most attention after the game having not started a single game all season. Any signs of rustiness were nowhere to be seen.

Instead, the towering German produced a captain's display by dominating Costa in the air and providing a calming presence at the back.

The one time Arsenal's defenders switched off was for Costa's goal, which Holding feared would spark an unlikely comeback.

"When they scored and I was diving in front to try and block it, I saw it drop in and I thought: 'This is going to be tough now, they've got something to hold onto as they're one man down'," he said.

"I thought they'd try to keep it at 1-1 and take it to penalties, but luckily we hit them straight away and that's probably the best time for us to get a winner, which we ended up doing with Rambo."

Holding was partly to blame for Costa's equaliser but on the whole, he was fantastic, as Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain pointed out after the game.

While Arsenal's players celebrated with the fans at Wembley, the Ox and Holding were taken to one side for a quick chat.

And during that conversation, which you can see below, Oxlade-Chamberlain lauded his young compatriot for bossing it against one of Europe's deadliest strikers, labelling him as the "future of Arsenal".

HOLDING'S BIGGEST FAN

He said: "This man (Holding), he stepped in there today, first FA Cup final, and he's just bossed it like it was nothing. Look at him!

"He doesn't even know what he's done, but he will one day. You'll know. Future of Arsenal."

How's that for a compliment? The Ox clearly rates Holding highly and you can hardly blame him given the quality of his performances this season.

The 21-year-old has played every game for Arsenal since mid-April and won on every occasion. He's most definitely a future star.