Matchweek 38

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: Last weekend, was the final round of Premier League matches this season, so we’re going to take a look at some of the highlights from 2017/18. 

Headlines

Rich: City reach their century! 

Jack: Manchester City won the Premier League a few weeks ago but their 1-0 win against Southampton on the final day meant they reached 100 points. This is a Premier League record. Other records that City have broken this season include: consecutive Premier League wins, most passes in a game, most goals scored, most wins and best goal difference. What a season!

Rich: Liverpool grab final Champions League spot.

Jack: Liverpool will be playing in the Champions League next season whatever happens in the Final against Real Madrid. They thrashed Brighton 4-0 on the final day while Chelsea crashed to defeat against Newcastle. Liverpool will be joined in the Champions League by City, Manchester Utd and Spurs.

Rich: Saints survive, Swans down.

Jack: Southampton survived in the Premier League despite that loss against Manchester City. Swansea couldn’t get the points against Stoke and will join the Potters and West Brom in the Championship. Replacing them will be Wolverhampton Wanderers, Cardiff City and the winner of the play-offs that is decided on the 26th of May.

Rich: What were the highlights of the season for you, Jack?

Jack: Hmmm. They have to be City’s performances. They’ve been superb. That match against Liverpool was amazing. What about you? What were the highlights for you?

Rich: I agree City have been superb, but for me, it’s been watching Liverpool’s, Mohamed Salah. Those goals against Watford back in March were the highlights of the season for me.

Definition Alert! 

Rich: What were the highlights for you? Highlight?

Jack: Highlight is a word that you often use to speak about football. It means the best or most interesting part of something. 

Rich: I said Salah’s goals were the highlights of the season for me.

Jack: You can use it outside of football, too. The highlight of my trip to Paris was going up the Eiffel Tower.

Rich: A common expression about football is ‘Don’t tell me the score, I’m going to watch the highlights later’.

Jack: Yes, the highlights usually refers to a TV programme that covers a number of matches that were shown earlier in the day.

Rich: In the UK, a popular highlights programme is called ‘Match of the Day’ which is on the BBC.

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: This week we’re going to do it a bit differently. 

Rich: We want you to help us choose our Player of the Season, Team of the Season and Match of the Season. We’re going to give you some options to choose from.

Jack: On the page below this podcast we have all the options and you have to vote for your favourite.

Rich: Let’s think about Player of the Season first.

Jack: What about a goalkeeper? David De Gea has been Manchester Utd’s best player. 

Rich: Or City’s David Silva or Kevin De Bruyne - both of them have been fantastic and City’s Kyle Walker, too!

Jack: And I know you’re about to mention him, but you’ve got to have Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah in there, too.

Rich: OK, there are your five choices: David De Gea, David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, Kyle Walker and Mohamed Salah.

Jack: What about Team of the Season?

Rich: Manchester City is the obvious option, Premier League Champions and a record-breaking season.

Jack: Liverpool are another option. Loads of goals and they’re in the Champions League Final.

Rich: And if you want a smaller club that has done better than expected what about Burnley. They are the smallest club in the Premier League and have finished seventh and qualified for Europe.

Jack: So, your three options for Team of the Season are: Manchester City, Liverpool and Burnley.

Rich: And now Match of the Season. There have been so many great matches but we’re going to give you three to choose from and all of them involve this season’s Champions.

Jack: The first is Liverpool’s 4-3 win against Manchester City in January. It was City’s first defeat of the season and it was a breathtaking game with Liverpool scoring three goals in nine minutes.

Rich: The second match is the Manchester Derby in April. City were winning 2-0 at half-time and could have won the Premier League title against their city rivals. But, in the second half, United stormed back to win the match 3-2! What a match!

Jack: However, City aren’t Champions for nothing and our third match was played back in September. It finished Manchester City 5-0 Liverpool. Looking back, it was pretty obvious after that match that City were going to win the Premier League this season.

Rich: On the page below this podcast we have all the options and you have to vote for your favourite.

Fantasy Football

Rich: How did Fantasy Football finish, Jack?

Jack: Congratulations to Gerardo Lopez Lozada from Mexico. His team, the 11 Impostores won the Premier Skills Fantasy Football league with 2351 points and he finished 86 points clear at the top of the table.

Rich: This is the second time that Gerardo has won the Premier Skills Fantasy League - a fine achievement!

Jack: Maybe he’ll have a go at our World Cup prediction competition?

Rich: I hope not - he’ll probably win that, too!

Matchweek Prediction

Jack: As the Premier League season is over there is no prediction this week, but we do have some news about a new prediction competition. 

Rich: That’s right! The World Cup is less than a month away and many Premier League stars will be playing for their countries in Russia.

Jack: We will have a new prediction competition so keep an eye on our homepage over the next week or two because you can also win some fantastic prizes.

Rich: What are the prizes?

Jack: It’s top secret at the moment - you’ll have to wait and see! Next week, we’re going to publish the first in a new series of podcasts to help you get ready for the football this summer.

Rich: We’re going to focus on the language you need when you’re watching a game. Like, what to say when your team scores a goal ...

Jack: or if there’s a foul or a striker misses a sitter. That sort of thing. I think that the new podcasts will be good fun.

Rich: And useful for football fans. Right, that’s all we have time for. I hope you have enjoyed this football round-up. 

Jack: And don’t forget to join the discussion at the bottom of the page. And if you’ve enjoyed this podcast why not leave a rating or review and that will help other people find us. 

Rich: Bye for now and enjoy your football.