[](https://yankeegooner.net/a-dream-starting-xi-for-2025-2026/)
Here we are again. A fresh season looms, optimism is bubbling, and the Emirates is polished and ready for another season at the holy grail. Mikel Arteta, now firmly entrenched in the marble halls of North London, has a squad that could look frightening if the transfer market is successful.
So what does a dream starting XI look like?
**In goal.** There’s no debate anymore. David Raya, now permanently #1 in red and white, is Arteta’s man. Calm as a monk in a thunderstorm, with a boot that could pick out a drone at 60 yards. Ramsdale? Lovely lad, but now is working for relegated Southampton.
**The backline.** Barring injury (always the concern), is as solid as you like. First year wonder Myles Lewis-Skelly continues to impress the football world at left-back. William Saliba, well he’s a Rolls Royce on legs. Gabriel’s still smashing skulls and duels, while Jurrien Timber, when fit, slides into the right-back with a blend of tenacity and technique that screams “bargain of the decade.”
**Midfield.** Oh, it’s spicy. Declan Rice anchors the chaos like Poseidon with a shinpad. Captain Martin Ødegaard does his usual magician act just ahead. And the real plot twist? New guy Martin Zubimendi will provide the additional creativity and skill will make thia threesome one of the best in the Premier League, if not Europe.
**Up front.** This is where things get saucy. Bukayo Saka on the right is gospel, but needs occasional relief. On the left side, Real Madrid’s Rodrygo would be an excellent addition. But, if that doesn’t happen, Gabriel Martinelli still darts like a firecracker and causes defenses to take notice when he has the ball at his feet. Through the middle, the big get this summer has to be the signing of either Viktor Gyökeres or Benjamin Sesko. Either player brings a battering ram for goals, muscle, and the “good chaos” Arsenal lacked last season.
So, my wish list for a Gunner starting XI this season would be:
Raya, Lewis-Skelly, Gabriel, Saliba, Timber, Rice, Ødegaard, Zubimendi, Rodrygo or Martinelli, Sesko or Gyokeres, Saka.
It’s youthful. It’s brave. It’s aggressive. It’s also a bit of a risk, especially when banking on a positive outcome in the summer transfer market. But this is Arsenal now. No more safe bets. No more top-four parades. This could be a side built to win, or die trying.
Come next May, it’ll either be champagne or sighs. But either way, we will still be there supporting the great football club on Earth!
COYG!
Gunner1953