‘Momentum and Belief’—Mikel Arteta Takes Unexpected Stance on Quadruple Talk

William Saliba has already openly spoken about winning all four competitions this season.

Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal are still involved in all four competitions. | Catherine Ivill-AMA/Getty Images

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta did not flatly quash aspirations of an unprecedented quadruple this season, instead insisting that his team “are building very good momentum and belief” which was only bolstered by Wednesday’s victory at Stamford Bridge.

The 3–2 win away to Chelsea gave the Gunners an advantage to take into the second leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final at the Emirates next month. Arteta’s side eased past Portsmouth in the FA Cup last weekend and sit top of the Premier League and Champions League league phase tables.

William Saliba propagated this quadruple speculation by lamenting his own personal lack of silverware recently. “I’m tired to finish the season with nothing in my pocket, so now we have four competitions to win.”

With more than four months of the season still left to play, Arteta would be well within his rights to bluntly bat away any speculation of achieving a feat no English team has ever previously achieved. In an unusual move from the inherently cautious coach, he didn’t limit his side’s ambitions.

“We are building very good momentum and belief comes from performances and the level of consistency we have shown throughout 32 games this season,” Arteta told assembled media this week.

“What we did the other day at Stamford Bridge should help us to be very convinced that we have the ability to do that.”

Declan Rice already knew. pic.twitter.com/p0GhrcVIcL

— Sports Illustrated FC (@SI_FootballClub) January 14, 2026

An element of realism did creep back in to his thinking. “The reality is you have to show it in every game,” he added. “There is still so much to happen. But we are glad that we are still alive in the four competitions.”

Arteta may wish to focus on securing just one major piece of silverware rather than tracking down all four. The former club captain has amassed a pair of Community Shields since lifting the FA Cup in front of an empty Wembley Stadium in 2020.

Arsène Wenger infamously never won the EFL Cup during his time in north London while it’s been 22 years since his Invincible side lifted the Premier League title without tasting defeat. No iteration of Arsenal has ever won the Champions League, coming closest in 2006 when they were beaten in the final by Barcelona.

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Have Any Team Ever Won a Quadruple?

Celtic’s Lisbon Lions hold a unique place in history. | VI Images/Getty Images

Winning a treble is tough enough—Manchester City (2023–24) and Manchester United (1998–99) are the only two English clubs to have ever achieved the feat of lifting the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup in the same season. No side has ever added the EFL Cup to that haul since the competition’s inauguration in 1960.

Very few nations even have the chance of winning a quadruple given the scarcity of two major domestic cup competitions. France were one of the few major European powers to boast such a tournament before scrapping it in 2020, denying Luis Enrique’s current all-conquering iteration of Paris Saint-Germain the chance of achieving a true quadruple.

PSG did lift four trophies in 2024–25, bolstering an established European treble—top-flight title, Champions League and major domestic cup—with the Trophée des Champions, the French equivalent of England’s Community Shield.

Jupp Heynckes’s Bayern Munich of 2012–13 achieved the same quartet of trophies after starting their treble-winning season with a win in the DFL Supercup against Borussia Dortmund.

Bayern Munich didn’t quite win the quadruple. | Ian MacNicol/Getty Images

However, there is one team to have won a quadruple—or even a quintuple depending on your view of the Glasgow Cup’s significance.

Jock Stein’s 1966–67 Celtic side are legendary. An entirely homegrown squad comprised almost exclusively of players born within 10 miles of Celtic Park conquered all before them playing a beguiling brand of attacking football which clashed with the defensive style that was prevalent at the time.

After romping through the domestic competition, lifting the top-flight title, Scottish Cup and Scottish League Cup, the Hoops took on Helenio Herrera’s Inter in the European Cup final. Continental champions in two of the pervious three years, the Nerazzurri were infamous for their overtly defensive approach which was christened catenaccio, the little bolt on the door to make sure it was firmly locked.

Herrera’s great side were in a grip of self-imposed paranoia by the time they came up against Celtic in Lisbon, ultimately imploding in a 2–1 defeat which left Stein in awe of his own creation. “Winning was important, but it was the way that we won that has filled me with satisfaction,” he crowed. “We did it by playing football; pure, beautiful, inventive football.”

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