Arsenal Player of the Season 2023-24 power rankings: Why Declan Rice – not Bukayo Saka or William Saliba – deserves Gunners award

Timber looked like being an ideal addition to Mikel Arteta’s backline when he arrived from Ajax for £40 million ($49.5m) this summer. He performed well in the Community Shield, but an ACL injury sustained in the Gunners’ Premier League opener against Nottingham Forest condemned him to a season on the sidelines.

Ramsdale would have been sweating when David Raya was signed in the summer, and his fears were justified. Following a sketchy display against Fulham, Raya replaced him against Everton and the Spaniard hasn’t relinquished the gloves since.

Publicly, Arteta outlined a utopian vision where the pair would rotate – sometimes even during a game. However, it’s pretty clear who the No.1 is and it’s not Ramsdale. The situation initially created plenty of debate, and the England international had his supporters, but now almost everyone has accepted that Raya represents a significant upgrade. It’s time for Ramsdale to move on.

The Arsenal youth-team graduate continues to struggle to break into the senior side. Nelson has earned a handful of starts, notably setting up Eddie Nketiah’s goal in a Champions League dead rubber against PSV, but generally this season has represented a step backwards after a 2022-23 campaign which included some iconic moments.

The winger is rarely a detriment to the side when he does come on, but he’s hardly set the world alight either. Now 24, you’d imagine he’ll be looking to depart in the summer, even though he has signed a new contract fairly recently.

After a pretty uninspiring debut season at the Emirates, Vieira seemingly came out with a point to prove this campaign. Establishing his reputation as one of Arteta’s second-half ‘finishers’ early on, he provided assists in successive Premier League matches against Fulham and Manchester United.

However, he could not maintain that momentum. Vieira soon dropped out of the starting XI and was then dealt a double blow, seeing red against Burnley in November before picking up a serious groin injury. Those issues essentially ended his season, with the midfielder scarcely being seen again.

It’s hard not to feel a little sorry for Smith Rowe. After impressing at the European Under-21 Championship over the summer, he would have been hopeful of tasting some more first-team action this season.

However, his minutes have largely come in the form of late cameos, aside from a decent outing against Sheffield United in October – after which his momentum was halted by an untimely injury – and a rare start against struggling Luton in April. A summer exit seems likely.

Linked with a move away from the Emirates during the summer, Nketiah stuck around and was rewarded with an extended run in the starting XI at the beginning of the season. His involvement tailed off after that, with the hat-trick he bagged against Sheffield United in October representing the last time he would net this season.

It seems highly unlikely that he will stick around beyond the summer, and the fact that he’s hardly played towards the tail-end of the campaign will have done little to increase his transfer value.

We shouldn’t sugar coat it – this has been a largely disastrous season for Partey. Injuries have reduced him to a ghost-like figure in the Gunners ranks for the majority of the campaign, and he missed AFCON too.

If it wasn’t for his very recent return to the first team coinciding with some of Arsenal’s best midfield displays of the season, he’d be even further down this list. His future remains uncertain ahead of the summer, which is pretty startling considering how indispensable he seemed during the relatively recent past.

Zinchenko’s pre-season was disrupted by a calf injury – an event that set the tone for a testing campaign. In his maiden year in north London, he earned rave reviews for his technical prowess, with his in-possession contributions from an inverted full-back role helping his side pull apart their opposition.

But as the campaign has progressed, concerns have increasingly been raised about Zinchenko’s defending and decision-making. He now has more critics than defenders within the fanbase, and has only sparingly featured since struggling in a damaging 2-0 defeat to Aston Villa in April.

Tomiyasu is a useful member of the Arsenal squad, thanks to his defensive versatility. However, he’s endured somewhat of a stop-start season this time out, thanks to both fitness issues and his involvement in the Asian Cup with Japan.

After a strong start to the campaign, he looked a little unconvincing on his return from injury in March, though he’s found himself back in the starting XI more recently and has fared pretty well. He’ll be hoping to be available for the duration next season.

Niggling injuries have plagued Jesus’ season, but even when fully fit, the Brazilian has not quite been at his best, especially in the second half of the campaign. As always, his finishing has been far from world-class, though – as we’ve heard many times before – his all-round game often makes up for his lack of goals.

The fact he missed out on Brazil’s Copa America squad speaks to his slightly underwhelming campaign and it may even be time for the club to consider moving him on. He seems unlikely to regain his starting spot and Arsenal need to sell him now before he starts losing his value.

Following an extremely quiet start to the season, injuries saw Kiwior enjoy an extended run in the first team at left-back. After struggling in the same role previously, he began to look far more comfortable as the season wore on. The Poland international has looked dependable, if not overly flashy, and should have shown enough to earn a similar role next campaign.

Martinelli had to wait a while for his first Premier League goal of the season, but it was well worth the delay, coming in the dying stages of his side’s massive victory over Man City.

However, all in all, the Brazilian will be disappointed with his numbers, particularly in the second half of the season, with Leandro Trossard even stealing his place in the starting XI recently.

Jorginho received criticism after both the Man City and Chelsea games in the autumn, though playing through those midfields was always going to be a challenge. He was pretty good after that, though, cutting a stubborn Sevilla side open with a sumptuous assist in the Champions League and even wearing the captain’s armband against Newcastle and Burnley.

He also proved he still belongs in the biggest games, starring in the Gunners’ huge win over Liverpool in February, though he was less eye-catching in the two legs of the Bayern Munich tie. Regardless, he was more than deserving of the new contract handed to him in May.

After being widely mocked during his first few months as a Gunner, Havertz has managed to silence his critics over the past few months. The German comfortably reached double figures for goals in the end, while also chipping in with a string of important assists.

More than that, though, Havertz has begun to prove that he could be the man to lead the line for Arteta going forward. His physicality and clever movement helps get the best out of those around him, which may convince the club to decline the opportunity to spend big on a No.9 this summer.

It’s clear why Arteta likes Raya, despite the controversy his arrival caused. His competence on the ball has drastically improved Arsenal’s build up – and the mistakes that punctuated his early Emirates career are becoming less and less frequent. He’s not quite Player of the Season material, but the Premier League Golden Glove winner deserves immense credit for answering his doubters so emphatically.

Trossard has squeezed everything he possibly could out of his limited minutes this season. In the Premier League, he has averaged 0.69 goals per 90, a better rate than Golden Boot contenders Ollie Watkins, Dominic Solanke and Phil Foden have managed.

He’s popped up with some vital Champions League strikes too, netting in a hard-fought victory over Sevilla, in the last 16 against Porto and then in an exciting quarter-final first-leg clash with Bayern Munich. Take away these contributions and the Gunners’ second half of the campaign looks strikingly different.

How gutting must it have been for England boss Gareth Southgate to watch White put in the performances that he has this season? Although his prospects of making an international return seem remote, the ex-Brighton man has been one of the best full-backs in Europe this season.

Defensively, he is elite, with a long list of top-class wide men struggling to get any joy against White. His attacking contributions have been solid too, with Arsenal fans having a lot of love for Mr Consistent.

After it appeared that Arteta had gone off him in the early weeks of the campaign, Gabriel has been in the first team for the majority of the season. During this time, he has taken his game to the next level, forming one half of the best centre-back pairing in England alongside William Saliba.

He’s proved to be a potent weapon from set-pieces too, netting four times, including twice against Crystal Palace back in January. The turnaround has been quite incredible, considering he seemed to be out of favour at the beginning of the season.

The heartbeat of this Arsenal side last season, Odegaard was affected by injuries in November. Even before this setback, his goal and assist numbers were significantly down, though he has turned his fortunes around in the second half of the season.

The Norwegian knits everything together for Arsenal in the final third and his unparalleled passing ability has lit up the Emirates over the past few months. He’s also scored some important goals and continues to repay the faith shown in him by Arteta when he named the midfielder club captain back in 2022.

Arsenal missed Saliba dearly when he was sidelined at the end of last season, and Arteta will be mightily relieved to have had him back for the run-in this year. We know what to expect from the Frenchman by now and he has delivered a string of solid performances at the back this campaign.

A rare error against Liverpool and a couple of shaky Champions League displays aside, Saliba has been pretty much perfect. He is one of the biggest reasons why Arsenal have been so fearsome defensively and will no doubt be included in the Premier League Team of the Season.

Still only 22, Saka continues to solidify his reputation as one of the most productive widemen in Europe. His goals were particularly important during the opening stretch of the season, when Arsenal were still figuring out their best configuration up front. Throughout this period, Saka was consistently decisive, and he was similarly influential during January and February, when he enjoyed a run of eight goals in just seven Premier League games.

Despite often being on the receiving end of some meaty tackles, and Arteta being reluctant to ever hand him a proper rest, he has managed to remain available for pretty much the entire campaign. He probably hasn’t always got the credit he’s deserved this season, but there’s little doubt that he’s been Arsenal’s best attacker.

There were questions asked when Arsenal spent over £100m ($127m) on Rice this summer – but he’s proved to be well worth that hefty investment. His dramatic stoppage-time strike against Manchester United sent the Emirates into delirium back in September, and he’s flown in north London since then.

Starting out as Arteta’s deepest midfielder, his dominant displays made Gunners fans forget all about the absent Partey, while the second half of the campaign has allowed Rice to show his attacking capabilities in a No.8 position.

To do all of this in his first season at the club, and with the pressure of that massive transfer fee hanging over him, is nothing short of phenomenal. That’s why he deserves to just edge out the likes of Saka, Saliba and Odegaard for top spot.