This weekÂ’s Champions League exits have raised the question of whether an English side can win every competition they enter.
Chelsea were gunning for a quadruple and Manchester United were eying a treble before they were knocked out by Liverpool and AC Milan in the final four of EuropeÂ’s top competition.
Arsène Wenger is well aware of the predicament. His side suffered a similar heartache when going for three trophies in 2004. The Arsenal manager is not prepared to say it is an unattainable target but a little fortune or at least a lucky mindset is required.
“It is possible to go for everything,” he said. “But to win everything is different.
“One team managed it, Manchester United in 1999 but that year everything went for them.
“We had a penalty in the last minute for us in the Semi-Final of the FA Cup, we lost the championship at Leeds where we hit the bar three times before losing in the last minute.
“Also they were 1-0 down with one minute to go in the Final of the Champions League and it could have been 2-0 three times.
“They had exceptional quality, but still they needed a little bit of ‘this year, okay it is really for us’.
“Maybe it is not luck but something in your head that says ‘we have to win it, it is going for us’. Maybe the fact that you think you are lucky makes you lucky.”