At a Glance:
- The five best performers in Mikel Arteta’s reign at Arsenal.
- William Saliba and Bukayo Saka battle it out for top spot.
- Declan Rice misses out.
Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal side has featured a whole host of top-class players. This season, they could make history as the Gunners are in contention to win the Premier League and the Champions League.
Arsenal’s dominant 3-0 victory against Fulham was a stark reminder to their sceptics to write them off at their own peril.
Over time, Arteta has become a brilliant manager and an instrumental reason behind his development are the players, and vice-versa.
Five of them stand out in particular during the Spaniard’s reign at the Emirates Stadium.
David Raya
Since his shaky start to life in North London, David Raya has been consistently elite for Arsenal.
The Gunners’ decision to initially sign the former Brentford goalkeeper on loan in 2023 was met with raised eyebrows from many.
A top-quality number one like Aaron Ramsdale was already on their books and at the time, several fans and pundits alike felt Raya’s addition was needless. However, the Spanish international has silenced his doubters since then.
Unlike Ramsdale, Raya is largely error-free while also being an exceptional shotstopper, brilliant in possession and blessed with a throw akin to a javelin thrower.
Another clean sheet for David Raya ✅
— B/R Football (@brfootball) May 2, 2026
His 17th of the PL season means he'll win a least a share of his third consecutive Golden Glove 🧤 pic.twitter.com/FCDPQKaXZE
Raya’s signing has been a smash-hit and with his 17th clean sheet of the season in the league against Fulham, the 30-year-old is guaranteed to win the Golden Glove; emphasising his incredible consistency.
Martin Odegaard
Martin Odegaard’s stock has dropped in recent years due to persistent injuries and inconsistency.
However, it would be easy to forget how outstanding the Norwegian was for Arsenal from 2021 to 2024.
The 2022/2023 campaign alone is one Odegaard should be cherished for in N17, as he scored 15 league goals and helped propel the Gunners into becoming title-challengers for the first time under Mikel Arteta.
| Martin Odegaard: 2022/2023 season | Premier League stats |
| Starts | 37 |
| Goals | 15 |
| Assist | 7 |
While in the following season, the 27-year-old was arguably even better, playing in a more withdrawn role and pulling the strings. If Arsenal sell Odegaard in the summer, that would not change the fact that he has been a transformative signing for the club.
Gabriel Magalhaes
A strong case could be made that no player in Arsenal’s squad embodies Mikel Arteta’s style of play more than Gabriel Magalhaes. The Brazilian’s one-of-a-kind threat from set-piece situations and his brilliance at the back are fundamental elements of what makes Arteta’s side a tricky match for any opponent.
Gabriel has been excellent this season and ever since the 2022/2023 campaign, one could argue that he has been Arsenal’s standout player.
Ultimately, Arsenal’s backline remains their ultimate X-factor and a major reason why that is the case is the former Lille centre-back.
Bukayo Saka
In terms of sheer impact for his time under Mikel Arteta, it is hard to look past Bukayo Saka.
From dragging a struggling Arsenal side in Arteta’s early days at the club to Saka’s latest masterclass against Fulham, the Englishman has been the heartbeat of his boyhood club’s burgeoning project.
There are two reasons why it is difficult to rank Saka as the best Arsenal player in the Mikel Arteta era.
- Injury woes since last season
- An underwhelming 2025/2026 campaign
However, Saka has been Arsenal’s biggest match-winner for years and if Arteta manages to lead them to silverware, it would not be a stretch to consider him a club legend.
William Saliba
William Saliba may be underrated by the masses because at this point, the Frenchman’s excellence at the back is just standard procedure.
Saliba is virtually the perfect centre-back; an extraordinary reader of the game, stellar at defending inside the box and in the channels, rapid, physically imposing and nerveless in possession. Unlike Saka, the former Saint-Etienne colossus is yet to undergo any rough patches.
Furthermore, Saliba has hit heights in an Arsenal shirt that make one wonder whether he is the closest thing to Tony Adams to have donned the iconic red and white strip.
The Gunners’ number two has not only performed at world-class standards since 2022 but reached a level of consistency that make it seemingly inevitable that one day, he could go down as a legend of the game.
