Matchweek 15 - A two-horse race

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. This week there was an extra round of Premier League matches in midweek so we’re back with an extra episode of football and English.
 
Rich: We’ve got lots of interesting words and phrases to help you talk about football in English.

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

Rich: If you listen to us on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, you can leave your comments in the review section. We do read all the reviews and would love to hear from you.

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

Rich: Let’s start with our midweek headlines!

Headlines

Jack: City hold on to beat Watford.

Rich: Manchester City survived a late Watford onslaught to win for the thirteenth time in fifteen games in the Premier League this season. Leroy Sane and Riyad Mahrez made things comfortable for City but Watford got a goal in the 85th minute to and it was a nervous finish for the league leaders.

Jack: Liverpool leave it late against Burnley.

Rich: A much-changed Liverpool team fell behind in the 54th-minute but a James Milner Strike levelled things up. Roberto Firmino scored with his first touch after coming off the bench. Xherdan Shaqiri made sure Liverpool took all three points in injury time.

Jack: Arsenal against United finish all-square.

Rich: Manchester United equalised twice as both teams had to settle for a two-all draw. A mistake by David De Gea allowed Arsenal to score the opening goal but Anthony Martial scored soon after. Another error, this time by Marcos Rojo allowed Alexandre LAcazette to score but Jesse equalised just moments later and that’s how it finished.

Jack: Do you think it’s a two-horse race for the title now?

Rich: With Chelsea losing to Wolves there’s a gap between the top two and the rest but I think it’s a bit early to write off the rest, yet.

Vocabulary alert!

Rich: In our vocabulary alert, we look at some football English that we used in the headlines.

Jack: The words are: to hold on, onslaught, to come off the bench, all-square, a two-horse race and to write off.

Rich: Some unusual words here. Let’s start with to hold on. This means to survive in a dangerous situation. We use it when one team is defending a lot but the attacking team doesn’t score.

Jack: When the other team is attacking a lot we can use the word onslaught. Manchester City survived a Watford onslaught. In general, it means a violent attack and it has the same meaning here but without the violence!

Rich: Roberto Firmino came off the bench to score. To come off the bench means to play as a substitute. The bench is the substitutes’ bench - what the substitutes sit on.

Jack: The next phrase is all-square. This means to have equal points in a game so it’s used to describe a draw. Arsenal against United finished all-square. It finished 2-2. A draw.

Rich: The next phrase is a two-horse race. We use this phrase when there are lots of teams that can theoretically win a competition but the reality is that only two can. Do you think the Premier League is a two-horse race this season?

Jack: And the last phrase is to write off which is a phrasal verb. In the headlines, to write off means it’s not worth paying any attention to something because they are not going to win.

Rich: Have a think about these six phrases and see if you can use any of them in the comments section.

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: We’re going to do these midweek awards very quickly. Rich - over to you.

Rich: OK, our Player of Matchweek 15 is Liverpool’s, James Milner. He got Liverpool back into the match against Burnley with a good goal. Milner always works hard for the team whether he is in midfield or at left-back. In this match, he played both positions. Right, our Team of Matchweek 15 is Wolverhampton Wanderers. Wolves hadn’t won for seven matches so a comeback win against Chelsea was a great performance. Finally, our Goal of Matchweek 15 goes to Florin Andone, Brighton’s Romanian striker. Andone ran half the length of the pitch to score. A stunning strike and worth checking out if you haven’t seen it.

Matchweek Prediction 

Jack: This is our second prediction this week so you only have a couple of days to make your predictions. You need to be quick!

Rich: The big match is Chelsea v Manchester City. City are of course on fire. They are top of the league and haven’t lost this season. Chelsea lost to Wolves in their last game and are experiencing their first run of bad form under Maurizio Sarri. City looked a little nervous at the end of their last game and I think Chelsea have a chance at home but I think City will win. Final score: Chelsea 1-2 Manchester City.

Jack: I think this match will finish all-square. We shouldn’t write Chelsea off yet. I’m going for a one all draw.

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.