David Raya says it is ‘nice’ to be considered one of the best goalkeepers in the world but believes Thibaut Courtois is a level above the rest of the field.

Raya has quickly developed into one of the best goalkeepers in the Premier League since joining Arsenal ahead of the 2023-24 season.

There was a debate over who would start under Mikel Arteta when Raya left Brentford to join Aaron Ramsdale at the Emirates Stadium but the Spaniard quickly won the battle, ultimately resulting in Ramsdale’s departure last summer.

England legend Alan Shearer recently said Raya was ‘one of the best’ in the Premier League, while the 29-year-old was hailed as ‘one of the best in the world’ by pundits earlier in the season.

‘Of course, it’s nice to be in that talk and it’ll be nice to be there, but my aspiration is just to play football, to be the best version I am and be better tomorrow and the day after, so that’s what I’m thinking right now.’

Raya also revealed he rates Real Madrid’s Courtois as the best goalkeeper in the game right now.

The Gunners face Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League on Tuesday night, with Raya set to come up against goalscoring machine Viktor Gyokeres.

Asked how Arsenal plan to stop Gyokeres, who has 24 goals in 19 games this season, Raya said: ‘We know his strengths.

‘We know he runs a lot in behind, he scores a lot of goals in 1v1 and of course, he’s a top player who is in form.

On Portuguese league leaders Sporting, Raya added: ‘We know it’s a tough opponent. They’re really, really in form in both competitions.

‘They score a lot of goals but we are focused on ourselves. We want to be ourselves, to play the football that we want to play and that we know how to play it and to make it very, very difficult for them to create chances and make it very, very difficult for them to win the game.

‘We know what we’re expectingand we’re going to go everything to win.’