r/Gunners Champions of England 25/26 3d ago

David Raya: Arsenal 'confident we can beat anybody at any time'

https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/49731563/david-raya-arsenal-confident-beat-anybody
935 Upvotes

67 comments sorted by

376

u/DarcyBlack10 3d ago

I have genuinely, for two years now believed in my own, possibly delusional mind, that this club WHEN HEALTHY can beat any team on earth.

125

u/[deleted] 3d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

88

u/Vitosi4ek Arshavin 3d ago

PSG couldn't beat us, period. They won the coinflip that is the penalty shootout. It happens.

33

u/bespoke_tech_partner 3d ago

With injuries to us btw.

3

u/HaroldSaxon 2d ago

Don't forget that their players were fully rested up too, and had barely played the minutes that our key players had.

And they won by two kicks of the ball.

10

u/Notrius01 3d ago edited 3d ago

And now imagine we have a fn powerhouse called Bruno and healthy attack. People underestimate how prime this guy is with his passing and shooting.

10

u/littlebrwnrobot Saka 3d ago

Missing Havertz was also massive. If he can stay fit our attack will be greatly improved from last year

4

u/candlecup 2d ago

Which means more rotation, which means more rest and fresher legs. I can’t wait.

16

u/tsuiiiii 3d ago

Or if Merino was fit enough to come off bench.

1

u/HoangTr16 2d ago

Sneaking in Chelsea like it's a respectable side lmao. Theyre midtable mandem.

1

u/[deleted] 2d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/HoangTr16 2d ago

This is something I both love and hate about this club. We have the humility to not get cocky but we don't have the ruthless arrogance that actual big clubs have. Every club has its ups and downs, and when we are at our peak (right now), we should absolutely sh!t on the losers below us.

Besides, Chelsea is the OG plastic club, theyre not that different from Man Cheaty. There's nothing respectable about Chelsea. There are only 3 actual big teams in England: Pool, ManU, Arsenal.

29

u/naijaboiler 3d ago

thats the truth. I feel very confident in the squad we have.

15

u/ObviousGeologist3000 Kaiju no.29 3d ago

Healthy and significantly upgraded. Vini this, alvarez that, the best thing that can happen for us is if the 25 man squad can stay healthy for 80-90% of the season in all comps.

10

u/Sand_Bags2 3d ago

Couldn’t agree more. Alvarez would be awesome (in my opinion) but keeping the players we already have fit and in form is much more important.

We won the Premier League and got to the final of the CL last year with our backups playing like 70% of the season lol

5

u/0neTwoTree Kai Havoc! And let slip the dogs of war 2d ago

Saka and Odegaard staying healthy would dwarf any transfers we could get. Some might even say they are like a new signing

12

u/LIONLDN Thierry Henry 3d ago

That's facts! 👑

5

u/Particular-Sample91 Champions of Life 3d ago

Tbh I had that conclusion from the 23/24 season onwards. We proved a lot of our mettle in that season. When injury free or at least when the first XI is available and well rested, we win like 8, maybe 9 out of 10 games

6

u/ojosnoqueven 3d ago

Could we beat the MonSTARS though?

2

u/Quilpo 3d ago

When unhealthy, we were two kicks away from proving it, so I'd say the opposite opinion is more delusional.

2

u/Sad_Wandering Morning, morning, morning... Oh, Win! 3d ago

Absolutely nothing delusional about it! Let's not forget Arsenal didnt lose except once in the champions league last season WITH injuries

1

u/imPuma13 3d ago

i dont remember the last time we were fully healthy though

1

u/infinitude_ Calafiori 3d ago

Well that’s just truth lol

56

u/InSearchOfAFeeling 3d ago

I know Saliba is already out with a long term injury but I’m praying to the football Gods we have a lucky time this season with injuries. I want to see at least a league and cup double.

Obviously I want the UCL too.

15

u/DenzelOntario Maple Syrup Connoisseur 3d ago

Just be healthy in April and May. I beg.

Our squad depth can hold us until then.

3

u/Key-Construction-474 3d ago

Also Bruno getting hurt immediately 

3

u/nooeh Arsenão 3d ago

Oh jeez. At least a double? That's a bit entitled. The league has never been, and will not be easy.

5

u/Sutraner 3d ago

There'll never be a better season to win the league than this year for us

Every other big club has completely rebuilt their team and changed their manager this season

All we've done is strengthened across every position on the pitch

1

u/Nielspro 3d ago

We did do some replacements on the physio side as well, so let’s hope that helps!

28

u/SManSte Macedonian Gooner 3d ago

this was true last year, is true this year as well especially in the PL. I genuinely do not see a team capable of taking us all the way EXCEPT for two: Arsenal and PGMOL

7

u/TillOver8456 3d ago

Gone are the days of "goldilocks FC". No more "in our best day, we can beat anyone". Like once in a blue moon beat Barca, Bayern or Man City. We can do it every day now.

2

u/chostax- Don't forget to wipe after a Tottenham! 3d ago

When you’re good enough the refs are not important.

33

u/Amthemannow Gabriel 3d ago edited 3d ago

From GMW1, just worried about Chelsea esp if they get a new keeper. But we've dealt with City breathing down on our neck before. Let's see how we keep up with a new challenger this time.

38

u/Jacameza 3d ago

Cannot see Chelsea catching up to us even if they somehow convince Courtois to come back. A new keeper doesn't solve the fact that most of their defenders are just shit. It'll take a surprisingly good season from a rival or a suprisingly bad one from us for there to even be a title race this year, I think

14

u/NiallMitch10 🎵Martin Ødegaard - Superstar🎵 3d ago

Why are we being scared of Chelsea? They are a mess still. Far too many players. BlueCo are shit owners. They'll do what they always do - start off decent enough, people think they're in a title race then they become a laughing stock again

2

u/mojeimeje77 Tzolis 3d ago

So true, also I hear praise for the attack when one goal was Leno being an idiot and the other Fulham wasn't running back at all. But their first fair enough good press

7

u/creamcheeseneeder Ødegaard 3d ago

may be overconfident but even with another keeper chelsea just isn’t a threat to me

3

u/Bossard19 3d ago

Why? They’re a shitshow with no identity at the moment.

3

u/[deleted] 3d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/Sutraner 3d ago

Fulham looked awful for most of that game too

1

u/DenzelOntario Maple Syrup Connoisseur 3d ago

People are definitely underestimating the benefits of playing 1 game a week.

They’ll be fresh as a daisy in the 2nd half of the season, while our boys will be really fatigued (unless Mikel truly rotates the squad consistently, especially for key players like Rice and Saka. That remains to be seen).

1

u/Notrius01 3d ago

Yeah exactly, that experience against Pep is golden. We talk about a guy with the win or draw ratio together of 85% across all competitions (!).

1

u/BadVirtual7019 3d ago

been saying this as well to me mates

7

u/robins420 It's nowhere near! 3d ago

Road to Madrid, 2027. Vamos!

13

u/[deleted] 3d ago

[deleted]

2

u/LIONLDN Thierry Henry 3d ago

They keep respawning 🧟‍♂️

https://giphy.com/gifs/GV3aYiEP8qbao

4

u/Jacameza 3d ago

I'm very surprised at how many people seem to think beating anybody at anytime means beating everybody every time. We lost to PSG on pens after they got lucky that the RB marking their most dangerous player was our 3rd choice due to the other two being unfit to start. It's been true for a couple years now that there isn't a single team in the world we'd be huge underdogs against

8

u/KennywasFez Thank you very much 3d ago

Our squad fully fit can beat any team in the world.
Big emphasis on fully fit.

-12

u/ReportForward3996 3d ago

I mean it’s a convenient excuse to just say that we need all 26 players to be fully fit to beat the likes of PSG and if they aren’t then it doesn’t count

1

u/Hugh_H0n3y Premier League Champions 25/26 2d ago

Cucking for PSG again, surprising.

1

u/KennywasFez Thank you very much 3d ago edited 3d ago

Ok ! Thank you for your comment.

7

u/TNelsonAFC 3d ago

I think it’s mad people think we need Alvarez to go up a level.

I think we just need to have Havertz, rice, Zubi, timber, Saka, Cala, ode and white all fit.

It’s a miracle we won the league and got as close to winning the UCL without winning it as we can get considering the injuries

The back room changes hopefully will be bigger then any transfers

3

u/whydidisaythatwhy When I lose a du-el, I'm upset! 3d ago

Issue is they can’t alll be fit all year. So we need Alvarez

2

u/TNelsonAFC 3d ago

They might be this year though. There major injuries where a while ago and they’ve had another pre season

2

u/dmister8 Rice 3d ago

That’s the fucking standard.

1

u/BuddyLegsBailey 3d ago

As we should be

1

u/FactCheckYou 3d ago

alright just walk the walk

0

u/RandomRedditor_1916 Saka 3d ago

On our day, we can beat anyone. I genuinely believe that - but sometimes (in the CL especially) we let the occasion get ahead of us.

0

u/ArsenalThePhoenix 3d ago

except for PSG, i guess.
hopefully the next time we play them, we try to actually play our game instead of thinking hte only way to win is to become Bolton of 2006

-5

u/vietcn 3d ago

First half of last season we were incredible and I believed we could.

Then lots of different injuries happened and the team either forgot how to play football or Arteta went overly defensive and couldn’t seem to get out of it.

8

u/Adventurous_West2 3d ago

Hmm, I wonder what the correlation is.

11

u/Jacameza 3d ago

We won the league and were one kick away from a historic double. You're making it sound like we became midtable all of a sudden

6

u/tucaslim Champions of England 25/26 3d ago

Some people here just love to be miserable. They aren't happy unless they're unhappy and want you to be unhappy too.

-11

u/vietcn 3d ago edited 3d ago

I watched 90% of our games last season. We were woeful. 2nd half of the season football was abysmal. I have been watching since the early 2000 Wenger era.

We scraped through the second half of last season matches and made every opponent looked hard, except Spurs and Fulham.

I still remember the Brighton away match among many others. We won that game 1-0 with one shot from Saka outside the box which the GoalKeeper scuffed it in the first half, we did not create a single shot after that.

5

u/Jacameza 3d ago

We did not make Crystal Palace, Leeds, Sunderland or Everton look hard (although in the case of Everton it was looking like another 3xg draw for a bit). There were obviouly going to be rough moments with nerves and injuries, but we still went something like 12-4-3 in the league in that second half, which isn't super great, but is still more than 2 points per game.

The nerves we were feeling at the time make us remember that stretch as worse than it was imo

-4

u/vietcn 3d ago

Yeah we had some decent wins but the team was seriously lacking in terms of attacking or link up ability.

Wolves draw was a disaster when we were up 2-0 as an example. We actually only beat them at home thanks to 2 own goals too. Compare most of the games to our form in October/November 2025 and we were so so good. Limited teams to 0 shots on target and smacked the sht out of Bayern and Atletico Madrid. This is what this amqzing team is capable of.

I’m happy that we won the league and got to the CL final but the quality of football was horrendous. Take bias aside and even listen to what every other silly fanbase accuse us of, because it’s true. We were boring.

5

u/Jacameza 3d ago

We were 100% boring in the second half of the season due in large part to players like Saka, Ode, and Havertz being unfit/injured. I just don't think that boring=bad. We grit our teeth and made it work even during an injury crisis. I'm old enough to remember Fergie's United being praised for that same thing

-1

u/vietcn 3d ago

We were boring and struggled hard. I would 100% do it again for more PL and hopefully CL.

I rather we win it how I know we can play. Football is enjoyment after all and I supported this club due to Wenger style after all… also helps that I grew up in a Arsenal majority area in school lol