Matchweek 12

Introduction

Rich: Hello my name’s Rich and welcome to our Monday round-up section on Premier Skills English.  

Jack: Hi there. I’m Jack. Every Monday we discuss last weekend’s action, the best players, the best matches, Fantasy Football, and make some predictions for next weekend.

Rich: We want you to practise your English and interact with Premier League fans from around the world in our comments section.

Jack: You can do this on the Premier Skills English website or the Premier Skills-British Council Facebook page - if that’s where you are listening to us.

Rich: There were some brilliant games in Matchweek 12 so let’s get on with this week’s roundup!

Headlines

Rich: City pick up where they left off after the international break.

Jack: Manchester City beat Leicester 2-0 away from home and continued their brilliant start to the season. Gabriel Jesus and Kevin de Bruyne got the goals to see off Leicester. City have now won 16 matches in a row. Amazing stuff!

Rich: Pogba inspires United to vital victory.

Jack: Paul Pogba and Zlatan Ibrahimovic returned for United after injury and it was Pogba who was the star man for the Red Devils. Pogba scored one and crossed for Anthony Martial to score another. Juan Mata and Romelu Lukaku completed the scoring after Newcastle had taken a surprise lead.

Rich: A happy return for Bournemouth’s Callum Wilson.

Jack: Callum Wilson scored a hat-trick as Bournemouth beat Huddersfield 4-0. It was only his second match back after rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament or ACL. He was out of action for eight months and it happened only weeks after he had returned to the pitch after the same injury in the previous season.

Rich: Getting one career-threatening injury is bad enough but getting the same injury twice is really bad luck. Let’s hope he stays fit this time!

Jack: Yes, definitely. 

Definition Alert!

Jack: Earlier you said ‘City pick up where they left off after the international break’. ‘Pick up’ ‘left off’? Can we look at these two phrases?

Rich: City picked up. It’s a phrasal verb to mean continue or start doing something again after a break. 

Jack: So, you might break for lunch at a meeting and after lunch, you might start the meeting by saying ‘Shall we pick up where we left off before lunch?’

Rich: Yes, the other phrase ‘left off’ is also a phrasal verb. It means to stop doing something that you will probably continue later.

Jack: So, City pick up where they left off after the international break. This means that City continued doing something that they stopped for a while because of the international break.

Rich: Playing brilliant football.

Jack: Exactly.

Matchweek Awards

Rich: Right, every Monday, we give out three Matchweek awards. Player of the Week, Team of the Week and Match of the Week.

Jack: In the comments section, you need to tell us if you agree with our choices …

Rich: Last week, not all of you agreed with our choices.

Jack: For example, Umlaut Team Gubin from Poland felt that we should have chosen Manchester Utd against Chelsea as Match of the Week.

Rich: And Ahmed Adam from Sudan said we should have chosen City rather than Spurs as Team of the Week.

Jack: These awards always create a lot of discussion. Let’s start with our Player of the Week. There were some great individual performances in the Premier League last week.

Rich: Yes, there were Mohamed Salah was fantastic for Liverpool, Kevin de Bruyne was immense once again for City and Paul Pogba is back for United and was brilliant.

Jack: We’ve mentioned him already … our Player of the Week is Bournemouth's, Callum Wilson. A Premier League hat-trick is brilliant of course but it’s such a good story too.

Rich: Yes, he’s hardly played for two years because of injuries so to come back and score a Premier League hat-trick is something special. 

Jack: Right, shall we move on to the next award?
 
Rich: Our next award is for Team of the Week. There were good wins for City, Arsenal, United, Liverpool and Bournemouth …

Jack: But our Team of the Week is ... Chelsea! A 4-0 away win … Eden Hazard scored twice and he’s in great form at the moment.

Jack: Finally, what about Match of the Week?

Rich: Our Match of the Week this week is … Manchester Utd v Newcastle. A 4-1 win for Manchester Utd but the match was much closer than the scoreline suggests.

Jack: Newcastle took the lead and Manchester Utd only equalised just before half-time. Having Paul Pogba and Zlatan Ibrahimovic back in the team is going to make a big difference.

Fantasy Football

Rich: What’s been happening in Fantasy Football this week, Jack?

Jack: The top scoring player in Matchweek 12 was Chelsea’s Eden Hazard with 18 points. 

Rich: And in the Premier Skills League the team at the top is still the Premier Skills team!

Jack: Thanks to RafaelRC a listener from Brazil for telling us to get Watford's RIcharlison in the team. He scored at the weekend!

Rich: The Premier Skills Fantasy Premier League Team of the Week for Matchweek 12 is  Mohammad Fakhrul Hisham Mohd Nor from Malaysia.

Jack: His team - La Lipak scored 90 points! Well done Mohammad from Malaysia!

Matchweek Prediction

Jack: Last week’s prediction was Arsenal against Tottenham. I was very, very happy to see Arsenal win 2-0! 

Rich: I thought Spurs would win. What do I know hey? But some of our listeners predicted an Arsenal win. Well done to Elghoul and Khaldoun83 from Algeria and Sabanoleg from Ukraine!

Jack: Which match are you going to predict this week?

Rich: Matchweek thirteen’s big match sees Chelsea travel to Liverpool. Both teams had good wins last weekend and only three points separate Chelsea in third place and Liverpool in fifth. Both teams have Champions League trips this week. Liverpool go to Spain to play Sevilla and Chelsea go to Azerbaijan to play Qarabag. It’s a long journey for those Chelsea players. I think they might be a bit tired when they play Liverpool. Final score: Liverpool 4-0 Chelsea.

Jack: Four nil? You’re showing your support there! I think it will be a draw - 1-1.

Rich: We’ll see … we want you to make your prediction at the bottom of the page on the website. Are you a good predictor? 

Jack: Right, that’s all we have time for. I hope you have enjoyed this Monday round-up. Don’t forget to join the discussion at the bottom of this page.  
 
Rich: Also, if you want to improve your English, take a look at our weekly podcast. There is a link on the side of this page.

Jack: Bye for now and enjoy your football.