Failure to qualify for the Champions League would cause Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez to leave Arsenal, making the club also-rans for years, according to Paul Merson.
Merson also believes under-pressure manager Arsene Wenger "looks lost" in his role for the first time since taking charge over 20 years ago.
Arsenal are on the brink of crashing out of the Champions League at the last 16 stage for a seventh straight season having lost the first leg 5-1 to Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena.
The fourth-placed Gunners also face a fight to return to the competition, with Liverpool and Manchester United close behind them in the Premier League table.
If Arsenal fail to make the top four, Merson predicts it would take his former club years to recover.
"If they don't finish in the top four this season, they will just be an also-ran club for a few years," he said to Sky Sports.
"Sanchez will go and I don't see Ozil staying there. They have a lot of players who have been there a long time.
"If they don't finish in the top four I don't see a world-class player going to play for Arsenal next season.
"If that doesn't happen, how are they going to get in the top four next season? Man City will buy again, Man United will buy again, Chelsea will buy again.
"Maybe Tottenham won't because of their new stadium but Liverpool will buy again. All of a sudden Arsenal get left behind."
Merson thinks Wenger is as vulnerable as he has ever been at Arsenal, but wants the players to take their fair share of the blame.
He continued: "I know it's been same old, same old for the last three or four years, but the other night [at Bayern] was the first time I have seen him look lost.
"Even in the press conference, he went in with the thought that he was in trouble. That is the first time I have really seen him like that. Usually he is quite confident and he will get out of it by saying the right words.
"Sometimes you have to draw a line, though. He takes all the stick and I'm one of those people that is probably on his back as much as anybody else.
"But these players are letting him down. He puts a team out and puts a lot of faith in these players who have been there for a long time - not like a year or two - these players have been at the club four, five and six years. Some even longer.
"They are not performing. They are letting him down and they keep on getting away with it."
