Matchweek 12 - Never in doubt

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. That’s right. We’re going to discuss all the latest football action from last weekend in the Premier League.
 
Rich: And not only that, 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. 

Jack: Let’s start with this week’s headlines!

Headlines

Rich: Derby Day Delight for City.

Jack: City came out on top in the Manchester Derby. City won 3-1 and the result never looked in doubt from when David Silva gave the home side a first-half lead. Sergio Aguero added a second, Marcus Rashford pulled a goal back from the penalty spot but City finished off United when Ilkay Gundogan scored a wonderful team goal.

Rich: Liverpool keep up the chase.

Jack: Liverpool beat Fulham 2-0 and are still just two points behind City at the top of the table. Mohamed Salah opened the scoring just before half-time and Xherdan Shaqiri put the result beyond doubt in the second half.

Rich: Chelsea and Arsenal held at home.

Jack: Chelsea were held to a goalless draw by Everton and Arsenal needed a late equaliser to earn a point against Wolves. These results must raise doubts about their chances of fighting for the title this season.

Rich: What about that City goal. There were 44 passes before they scored. Brilliant.

Jack: Yes, without a shadow of a doubt one of the best goals this season and definitely the best team goal.

Rich: No doubt we’ll be seeing it replayed many, many times this week.

Vocabulary alert!

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

Jack: The six words and phrases this week are: doubtful, in doubt, raise doubts, beyond doubt, no doubt and without a shadow of a doubt.

Rich: Let’s start with the word doubtful. The word is usually used in football to mean not sure or uncertain and is usually used to talk about injuries and the chances of playing the next match.

Jack: Before the Manchester Derby, Jose Mourinho said Paul Pogba was doubtful or was a major doubt. This means that it is unlikely he will play because he’s injured and only has a small chance to recover. In the end, he didn’t play.

Rich: The next phrase is in doubt. Again it means to be uncertain. If a football match is in doubt, it means the match is close and we don’t know who is going to win. 

Jack: But we said the result of the Manchester Derby never looked in doubt because we thought the opposite - that the match wasn't close.

Rich: Xherdan Shaqiri put the result beyond doubt.

Jack: Beyond doubt means to make something completely certain.

Rich: Chelsea and Arsenal’s home draws raised doubts about their ability to challenge for the title.

Jack: Here raise doubts means to make you have doubts or make you feel unsure about their chances.

Rich: The next phrase is no doubt. I said ‘No doubt we’ll be seeing that City goal again and again’. 

Jack: We use no doubt here to say that something is sure to happen.

Rich: We can also use without a doubt to give our opinion about something. That’s the best goal I’ve seen - without a doubt.

Jack: Or if you want to give a stronger opinion you can say what I said about the City goal - without a shadow of a doubt one of the best goals this season!

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: Let’s start with Player of the Week. Raheem Sterling, Fernandinho and David Silva were all fantastic for City.

Rich: But we’re going to look outside of the City team and go for Newcastle’s Venezuelan striker, Salomon Rondon. He got two goals in Newcastle’s 2-1 win against Bournemouth.

Jack: Did you know that Newcastle used 14 players from 14 different countries in that game. I challenge anyone to get more than 10 without looking at Google!

Rich: Now, Team of the Week. Good wins for Liverpool, Spurs, Newcastle and Cardiff got a last minute winner.

Jack: But we’ve got to go for Manchester City. They were just too good for their city rivals. I reckon there ’ll be a few interesting conversations in the offices in Manchester this morning.

Rich: And finally, our Goal of the Week. It’s an easy one and we’ve already mentioned it but it was a brilliant goal. City’s third against Manchester Utd. It was scored by Ilkay Gundogan but it was all about the build-up - 44 passes.

Jack: United didn’t get near them!

Matchweek Prediction 

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

Rich: Lots of you made predictions last time and quite a few of you got it right.

Jack: And you’re claiming credit for this?

Rich: Yes, because they must have copied my prediction!

Jack: That’s doubtful! Anyway, well done to Lakerwang from China, Milos from Serbia Liubomyr from Ukraine and Elghoul from Algeria who along with Rich predicted a 3-1 win for Manchester City. 

Rich: There is an international break this weekend so my matchweek thirteen prediction will be played on the 25th of November.

Jack: And the match is …

Rich: Tottenham against Chelsea. A big London derby. It’s fourth against third and I think Chelsea’s unbeaten start to the season is under threat. Chelsea, of course, have had a great start under Maurizio Sarri, but Spurs are only one place and one point behind them. This is despite Spurs not playing that well. I think this might change in this game. Unlike previous matches between the two, I think this will be an open game with a lot of goals. I’m going to go for a 3-2 win to Spurs.

Jack; For once, Rich, I’m going to agree with you, but I don’t think they’ll be so many goals. 1-0 to Tottenham for me.

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.