Many of our soccer fan friends believe Arsenal’s phenomenal season is just that: a phenomenon that can’t be explained. Arsenal goalkeeper Manuel Almunia’s confrontation with a ghost may explain it all. He’s revealed that his small apartment is haunted by a monk. Maybe it’s an omen that his team is blessed. Maybe he’s just drinking too much absinthe. Why do we think the haunting of a Spanish conquistador would make for a better story here?

Spaniard Almunia, 30, has also heard chains rattling and had stereos turning on at full volume on their own. He is so spooked boss Arsene Wenger has given him permission to go home for lunch to avoid leaving wife Ana alone at the house in Abbots Langley, Herts. Terrified Almunia said yesterday: “My house is small but there is a lot of history to it and it seems there are ghosts.

Special treatment for ghosts? That’s the greatest excuse to head home for a “nooner” we’ve ever heard of. Kudos. But there’s more.

“One night, we were sleeping and my wife suddenly woke me up with a shout. She said there was this monk-like figure with a candle in his hand. She was in bed, next to me. I didn’t see him but I was s*** scared.

“We’ve spoken to neighbours, and they said this was normal.

“Perhaps it’s black magic, I don’t know. But some weird things were definitely going on.”

Perhaps it’s the same black magic that’s propelling Arsenal’s Premiership charge. Arsenal leads the domestic tables by a measly three points and improvement is unlikely with the way Manchester United is playing. Almunia & Company should be more terrified about their 4-0 FA Cup debacle last Saturday. That’s something guaranteed to haunt them down the stretch.

Almunia is real ghoulkeeper [The Sun, via Lion In Oil]
Image [Daily Mail]