Arsenal's quadruple chances assessed as Gunners attempt to replicate Celtic's Lisbon Lions

After a near six-year trophy drought on the red side of North London, Arsenal are hurtling towards the business end of the 2025-26 campaign, with excitement and anxiety growing in unison for a fanbase starved of major honours.

With Pep Guardiola's Manchester City juggernaut showing signs of consistent weakness and Liverpool's Jurgen Klopp era retired to the history books, the stars are starting to align for Mikel Arteta and his men, who have gradually built up to the status of a domestic and European powerhouse over the past six years.

Whilst even a single trophy would be celebrated significantly at the Emirates this season, could you imagine the scenes if the Gunners managed to win four? Heading into the middle of February, the Gunners still have the opportunity to achieve a 'true quadruple' - a feat no British team has managed since Celtic's crop of 1966-67.

Here, Sports Mole assesses Arsenal's chances of winning four major trophies this year, as well as considering when previous quadruple dreams died during the course of past seasons.

PREMIER LEAGUE - CLEAR FAVOURITES

Contested over 38 matches, the Premier League title race is a nine-month marathon which demands consistency and stubbornness - qualities which Arsenal possess over their rivals at the summit of the standings with 14 fixtures remaining.

Last season's champions Liverpool are down in sixth and look all-but set to relinquish their crown, whilst surprise package Aston Villa are running out of steam in their unlikely title push, losing back-to-back home matches against Everton and Brentford over the past few weeks.

Six points behind the Gunners in second spot, Manchester City are the most likely team to catch Arteta's men before the end of play in May, however recent displays at Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur suggest that Guardiola's side might struggle to produce a prolonged winning run required to overtake the pacesetters.

Another major sign pointing towards Arsenal's impending top-tier supremacy is the pure desperation of their fanbase for a first Premier League title in over two decades, meaning that even unfashionable home clashes with Bournemouth and Burnley during the latter stages of term will be treated like cup finals.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE - PROMISING START, THAT IS ALL

Becoming the first side to do so in the competition's revamped format, Arsenal won all eight of their League Phase matches in the Champions League, scoring 24 goals and conceding on just four occasions - meaning that they statistically boast both the strongest attack and meanest defence in UEFA's elite club tournament.

Given that two of those goals allowed were a pair of Kairat Almaty consolations at the Emirates against an already-qualified Gunners on matchday eight, the ease of Arsenal's continental progression to date is obvious, although that counts for almost nothing heading into the knockout rounds.

As shown last season by first-time winners Paris Saint-Germain, it is acceptable to endure a slow start to the Champions League before bursting into life during the latter stages - a trick that the likes of Les Parisiens and Real Madrid will be hoping to repeat in 2025-26.

Deniers of Arsenal's Champions League-winning potential will point towards their failure to get over the line against elite sides in previous editions, but the North Londoners have already shown the ability to silence Europe's top sides this term, beating Bayern Munich at home and 2024-25 finalists Inter Milan away during the League Phase.

FA CUP - TOO EARLY TO SAY

Depending on how you view the football calendar, Arsenal have been in the FA Cup for either seven months or just three weeks, with the Gunners commencing their journey in the competition with a third-round battering of Championship side Portsmouth at Fratton Park on January 11.

Fourteen-time winners of the tournament and with their most recent trophy coming in the FA Cup under Arteta during the 2019-20 season, the North Londoners are unsurprisingly the favourites to lift the famous cup at Wembley in May, especially given their form in 2025-26.

The signs of FA Cup glory are as positive as possible for a side still four consecutive wins away from the final, with Arsenal drawing a favourable fourth-round home tie versus League One Wigan Athletic, who are ranked 27th based on league position amongst the 32 remaining teams.

However, with Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool all left in the reckoning, there is unlikely to be a struggle-free journey towards victory in football's oldest cup competition for the Gunners, who have failed to navigate past the fourth round in each of the last six attempts since 2021.

EFL CUP - TOUCHING DISTANCE

After a pulsating five-goal thriller during the first leg of their semi-final clash with Chelsea in January, Arsenal played the tie rather than just the game on Tuesday night, when they booked their spot in the final of the EFL Cup with a controlled 1-0 win at the Emirates, enjoying a 4-2 success on aggregate.

The manner of victory in North London highlighted the Gunners' ability to manage high-pressure occasions - a skill which is set to serve them well as they look set to encounter plenty more crunch battles over the next few months as they strive for a historic quadruple.

Arteta's first chance to end his six-year trophy drought will come at Wembley Stadium against Manchester City on March 22, when the Citizens will be vying to win this competition for the fifth time in the 2020s under the expert tutelage of Guardiola, who has failed to beat the Gunners since April 2023.

The EFL Cup represents the most clear route to a cup honour for Arsenal, who will be provided with the opportunity to impress in an all-or-nothing clash ahead of hopefully facing similar challenges in the latter stages of the FA Cup and Champions League.

LIVERPOOL 2021-22 - QUADRUPLE NEAR MISS

Whilst Arsenal are hoping to make history and join Celtic's 1967 side in the quadruple club, they are not the first team in recent times to nurture ambitions of achieving the feat, with Liverpool coming mightily close during the 2021-22 season.

In fact, the four-pronged dreams of Klopp's side only evaporated on the final day of the Premier League season in late May, when an Anfield success over Wolverhampton Wanderers was not enough to prevent Guardiola and Manchester City securing top-tier triumph at the Etihad.

Liverpool were the bane of Chelsea's existence that season, beating the Blues in both the EFL Cup and FA Cup final in February and May respectively, with both contests decided by penalties kicks at Wembley Stadium, highlighting the fine margins between major honours and disappointment.

Klopp's troops went on to lose the Champions League final versus Real Madrid to conclude the campaign on a domestic cup double after the months prior suggested that the Reds were on course for a record-breaking season.

Relating the conversation to Arsenal's current situation, it is commendable that they find themselves in a position to dream of a quadruple, however with the main bulk of the February schedule yet to come, the idea of Arteta's men replicating Celtic's Lisbon Lions is still a thing of North London fantasy.