My cat is a Gunner

My cat Whisky has been known to enjoy a football match here and then, but yesterday he came out of the cat-closet to show me that he is a Gunner.

I sat down to watch Leeds versus Arsenal and Whisky was soon comfortably seated in front of the TV, something he has done before:

But it did not take long before the fat and lazy bastard became clearly upset at an initial (but eventually feeble) Leeds pressure:

But the Arsenal started to move forward, and Whisky moved forward to support his team:

I had never seen him this committed as I asked him to move aside so that I could watch the match. But as the stubborn cat that he is, he refused to move away as Leeds got a corner kick and Whisky was meowing for the Arsenal defense to stand strong.

Arsenal was soon able to put more pressure on Leeds, and it was the Spaniard Martin Zubimendi, who following a corner kick, brought Arsenal ahead, and Whisky just looked at me with his "I-told-you-so" arrogant cat-look:

Of course, like any fan, he wanted to look at the replay again and again:

The little Gunner-cat was so happy he really wanted to rub in "we are winning, we are winning".

As the reality of Arsenal's dominance became clear, Whisky became satisfied, and he cuddled with me on the couch as Noni Madueke, Viktor Gyokeres and in the end Gabriel Jesus with a splendid strike, gave Arsenal a 0-4 victory that have put the Gunners 6-point clear of Manchester City at the top of the Premier League, and possibly their first Premier League title since 2004.

But just as Whisky, Arsenal must learn not to become too arrogant. With 14 matches left Arsenal must keep their heads cold to take the title.

If they manage to take the title, Whisky will surely be celebrating, while I will be trying to make him shut up.
 

Champions and losers

 Both the Premier League and the Bundesliga ended this weekend. 

In the Premier League we already knew that Manchester City won the league ahead of an Arsenal side that had it all until the last stretch. Liverpool were close to catch Manchester United, but the Manchester side did well in its last stretch and even made it to third place, while Liverpool stayed fifth and will only play the Europa League next season. In the meantime, Newcastle's Arab investment paid off and on fourth place the old club full of traditions will be in the Champions League next season. Birghton is the other big surprise as they will be playing Europa League next season, after taking sixth spot.

The biggest disappointment in my view is in terms of relegation: two big clubs, Leicester and Leeds are being relegated. Leicester only seven years after winning the league in one of the biggest sensations of all time.

I hope both sides will return soon.

The Bundesliga had no champion until the last round, and it all looked set for Borussia Dortmund to take the title from Bayern Munich. All the had to do was win at home to Mainz. Alas, it didn't work. They were down 0-2, missed a penalty, and only managed to equalize in the dying seconds. In the meantime, Bayern Munich was playing Cologne; also needing to win, Jamal Musiala gave them the winning 2-1 goal in the 89th minute, and with that the 11th Bundesliga title in a row, in a league that is evermore onesided.

No league football for a while now....

Erling Haaland's route to records

Erling Haaland was already on fire when playing in Borussia Dortmund, but since his change to Manchester City the Norwegian has continued as a goal-scoring machine. In the latest match against Leeds (which happens to be Haaland's favourite English club) Haaland scored two goals in City's 3-1 victory, and with these two goals he reached 20 goals in the Premier League, after 14 matches played. With this, Haaland has been the fastest player ever to reach 20 goals in the Premier League.

Except for an injury Haaland will be the most scoring player of the league; the last two seasons 23 goals have been enough to get that title (Harry Kane, Mohammed Salah and Son Heung-Min), so Haaland appears likely to get beyond the 30 goal-mark (something that Mohammed Salah achieved in the 2017-18 season with 32 goals).

Manchester City appear in a good position to defend the Premier League title, and Haaland is surely an important part of that.