Did The Arsenal Dog Kick The Ball?

A Scientific Analysis.

You may have noticed there was a dog at the Emirates today, in fact, it was hard not to notice it.

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During Arsenal's 2-0 loss to West Ham, a cartoon dog was "running" around the side of pitch as part of an advertising campaign.

The most important question is not: “Why was the dog there?” It’s actually: “Did the dog kick the ball?”

John Lovett @jlove1982

EMIRATES PUPDATE: FOOTBALL-PLAYING PUPPY! https://t.co/1Y0Ayvq78s

12:54 PM - 09 Aug 2015

This gif shows the agonising moment that the camera cuts away from the dog barely SECONDS before it looked like it was about to hit the ball.

Sky Sports

But we can use still images of the incident to predict the eventual outcome, and answer the important question of whether the dog hit the ball.

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This still is taken shortly after Aaron Ramsey made his misplaced pass in the direction of Nacho Monreal.

In fact, it is 0.48 seconds after the ball left Ramsey's foot.

Assuming the position of the ball is around three metres away from Ramsey, you can assume that the ball is traveling at a speed of around six metres per second.

But by this point, the ball has slowed down. This photo is taken 1.32 seconds after the ball leaves Ramsey's foot.

Sky Sports

Assuming this is around 5 metres from Ramsey's original position (which is slightly to the right of where he is stood above), that means the ball was travelling at a speed of around 3.14 metres per second when this photo would taken.

The ball is slowing, the dog is getting closer.

THE DOG IS GETTING CLOSER.

By the point this photo was taken, the ball has slowed to a lazy and lacklustre 0.2 metres per second.

Sky Sports

The dog is travelling at a speed of 5.5 metres per second (the dog takes just over one second to make it along the light patch of grass, which is a distance of 6 yards, or 5.5 metres).

IT'S GOING TO BE CLOSE.

The ball looks as if it has around 0.3 metres to travel before it hits the advertising hoard, and the dog has 0.9 metres to travel to the point at which the ball would hit the hoard.

Sky Sports

It would take the dog 0.16 seconds to reach the point at which the ball hits the hoard, and it would take the ball 0.09 seconds to reach the hoard.

The difference of just 0.07 seconds means, to the human eye, it would look as if the dog kicked the ball.

SO. (INCREDIBLY QUESTIONABLE) SCIENCE PROVES THE DOG KICKED THE BALL.

Sky Sports

WELL DONE, DOG!!!!