Matchweek 10 - Chalked off

Introduction  

Rich: Hello my name’s Rich and welcome to our weekly round-up section called ‘This Week’ on Premier Skills English.  

Jack: Hi there. I’m Jack. Before we start this week’s show, we have some sad news to share with you. The Leicester City Chairman and owner, Khun Vichai, died in a helicopter accident outside the Leicester City stadium on Saturday evening.

Rich: We would like to send our condolences and thoughts to the chairman’s family and the families of all five of the victims in this terrible accident.

Jack: And to Leicester City football club, fans and the City. Khun Vichai’s impact on the club, city and premier league will not be forgotten. 

Rich: What he did with Leicester was amazing. They went from the third division to winning the Premier League.  

Jack: Yes and earned so many new fans, all over the world. OK - let’s get back to the podcast. We’re going to discuss all the latest football action from Matchweek 10 in the Premier League.
 
Rich: And, we’ve also got lots of interesting words and phrases to help you talk about football in English.

Jack: And we want you to use and practise these phrases by interacting with Premier League fans from around the world in our comments section.

Rich: You can find all our latest content on the Premier Skills English homepage or the Premier Skills-British Council Facebook page. 

Headlines

Rich: Liverpool go top after hitting four against Cardiff.

Jack: Liverpool went back to the top of the Premier League table before Manchester City’s big Monday night match against Tottenham. The Reds won 4-1 with goals from Xherdan Shaqiri, Mohamed Salah and two from Sadio Mane. That’s three in two games for the Senegalese international.

Rich: Chelsea make it look easy against Burnley.

Jack: Chelsea were another team to hit four at the weekend. Chelsea cruised to victory with goals from Alvaro Morata, Ross Barkley, Willian and Ruben Loftus-Cheek in a 4-0 win. All of this without the injured Eden Hazard, too.

Rich: Arsenal’s winning run halted by Palace.

Jack: Arsenal failed to make it twelve wins in a row as a battling Crystal Palace held the Gunners to a two all draw. A Palace penalty gave the home side a half-time lead. Arsenal came back with two goals at the beginning of the second half although the second shouldn’t have counted as there was a handball in the build-up to the goal. Palace still had time though and Luka Milivojevic scored his second spot-kick of the match to equalise.

Rich: Shame about Arsenal’s winning run coming to an end.

Jack: But the Gunners are still only four points off the top. It’s all still to play for.

Vocabulary alert!

Rich: In our vocabulary alert, we look at some football English that’s connected to this week’s headlines.

Jack: The six phrases we’re looking at this week are: shouldn’t have counted, should have been disallowed, shouldn’t have been given, shouldn’t have stood, shouldn’t have been awarded and should have been chalked off.

Rich: All of the expressions are used to describe a goal that was scored that should not have been permitted because a rule was broken or a foul committed.

Jack: In the headlines, I said that Arsenal’s second goal shouldn’t have counted because there was a handball. 

Rich: There are other ways of saying this. We could say the goal shouldn’t have stood.

Jack: And there are other expressions that use the passive as they involve the referee. We can say that the goal should have been disallowed, the goal shouldn’t have been awarded or the goal shouldn’t have been given.

Rich: All of these structures use the passive and could end with ‘by the referee’ but it’s not necessary because it’s obvious.

Jack: Another phrase that follows a similar pattern but is more idiomatic is ‘the goal should have been chalked off’.

Rich: I imagine that this is an old phrase which was used when we used to use chalk and blackboards to record scores instead of electronic scoreboards.

Jack: Have a go at trying to use one or two of these phrases in the comments section at the bottom of the page.

Football Awards

Rich: Right, every week, we give out three matchweek awards. 

Jack: The awards are Player of the Week, Team of the Week and Goal of the Week.

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

Jack: Khaldoun83 from Algeria said that we should have chosen Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil for Player of the Week last week. 

Rich: It was an amazing performance and we probably would have chosen Ozil but it was a Monday night match and we record this show before those matches start.

Jack: There were some great performances in Matchweek 10.  Luka Milivojevic held his nerve scoring two penalties for Palace, Sadio Mane scored two great goals for Liverpool and Lukasz Fabianski was great in goal for West Ham.

Rich: But our Player of the Week for Matchweek 10 is Chelsea’s Ross Barkley: two assists and a great goal and who needs Eden Hazard hey?

Jack: What about Team of the Week? Great wins for Bournemouth, Liverpool, and Watford but our Team of the Week is Chelsea. Four goals away from home without their best player - a great result.

Rich: Finally, Goal of the Week and there were some brilliant goals last weekend. Anthony Martial’s goal for Manchester United was world class as were goals from Arsenal’s Granit Xhaka, Barkley for Chelsea and Mane’s goals for Liverpool.

Jack: But our Goal of the Week is Watford’s Roberto Pereyra. What a goal! He was like Messi or Maradona! How many players did he beat?

Rich: I’m not sure but just like those other two players; he’s from Argentina and it’s my goal of the season so far!

Matchweek Prediction 

Jack: Every week, Rich predicts the result of one Premier League match and we want you to make your prediction, too.

Rich: We haven’t got the results of last week’s prediction yet as Tottenham and Manchester City are playing tonight. You might still have time to make your predictions if you haven’t already.

Jack: OK, matchweek 11. Which match are you going to predict, Rich?

Rich: The big match this weekend is Arsenal against Liverpool. It will be a big test for Liverpool as Arsenal have been on a great run recently and scoring lots of goals. However, Liverpool are in good form themselves and I think they have better players. You never know, but I don’t think this will finish 0-0. I think Arsenal might get a couple and we might see a match that goes on way then the other but I think the Reds will finish on top. Final score: Arsenal 2:3 Liverpool

Jack: Well, you have to support your team, Rich so I’m going to support mine, too. I think it will finish 2-1 to Arsenal.

Rich: We will see. Make your predictions on the page below. You get one point if you predict the right result and three points if you predict the right score.

Jack: Right, that’s all we have time for. I hope you have enjoyed this football round-up. Join the discussion at the bottom of the page. 

Rich: Bye for now and enjoy your football.