Matchweek 21 & FA Cup - A giant-killing

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. We’ve got lots of interesting words and phrases to help you talk about football in English.

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

Jack: 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.

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 our headlines!

Headlines

Rich: City get the win in top of the table clash.

Jack: Manchester City beat Liverpool in a tense match between the Premier League’s top two teams. The home team took the lead through Sergio Aguero’s sharp at the near post but Liverpool’s Roberto Firmino equalised in the second. The scores stayed level for just eight minutes as Leroy Sane grabbed the winner to move City within four points of the leaders. 

Rich: Tottenham’s title chances back on track.

Jack: Spurs won 3-0 away at Cardiff and are only six points behind Liverpool in third place. Harry Kane, Christian Eriksen and Son Heung Min all scored in the first half.

Rich: Day of the underdog in the FA Cup.

Jack: It was third round day in the FA Cup last weekend - the round where Premier League clubs try to avoid a giant-killing at the hands of the minnows from lower divisions. The biggest surprise or cupset came at Newport County of the fourth division. Newport knocked out Leicester City who are 74 places above them in the football league.

Rich: Yes, it’s very interesting to see some of the world’s biggest clubs go head to head with some of the smaller clubs in the league. Watford played against an amateur team from the sixth division. They only won 2-0.

Jack: Sometimes it’s a bit of a mismatch though. Manchester City won their match 7-0.

Vocabulary alert!

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

Jack: Our six words and phrases this week are all connected to cup competitions. The words and phrases are: to knock out, a shock, a cupset, a minnow, a giant-killing, and a mismatch.

Rich: Let’s start with the phrasal verb to knock out. To knock out means to beat a team so they can’t continue in a competition. Newport County knocked Leicester out of the FA Cup.

Jack: Shock can be used as a noun or a verb. It means to surprise someone - often in a not nice way. Newport shocked Leicester or it was a shock that Newport beat Leicester.

Rich: The next word is a bit silly. It’s an example of a portmanteau which is when you put two words together to make another word. You won’t find it in a dictionary but it’s a word that is becoming more and more popular.

Jack: The word is cupset. It means a surprise or shock result in a cup competition. The two words that have been put together are ‘cup’ and ‘upset’.

Rich: The next word is giant-killing. This has a similar meaning to cupset. A giant-killing is when a small team or a minnow beats a big team or a giant. 

Jack: Newport County beating Leicester was an example of a giant-killing. 

Rich: Newport were the minnows and Leicester were the giants and a victim of a giant-killing.

Jack: The final word is a mismatch. We say a match is a mismatch when one team is obviously better than the other. Manchester City won their FA Cup match 7-0, it was a bit of a mismatch.

Rich: Have a think about these phrases and see if you can use any of them 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. We’re going back to Matchweek 21 in the Premier League for these matches.

Rich: In the comments section, you need to tell us if you agree with our choices. Let’s start with Player of the Week.

Jack: Marcus Rashford was good for Manchester United as they beat Newcastle 2-0, Marko Arnautovic got two important goals for West Ham and Christian Eriksen brilliant for Spurs.

Rich: But our Player of the Week is Manchester City's Fernandinho. He was brilliant for City in a must-win match for his team and helped the CIty dominate the match against Liverpool.

Jack: What about our Team of the Week? A  difficult choice this week. Palace got a good win against Wolves, Spurs won 3-0 and Manchester United are still winning. But our Team of the Week is Manchester City for winning that top of the table clash.

Rich: Finally, Goal of the Week. Leroy Sane’s was good for CIty, Christian Eriksen’s for Spurs but our Goal of the Week is Marcus Rashford’s goal for Manchester United against Newcastle. A great move and sealed another win for Ole Gunnar Solsjkaer’s team.

Matchweek Prediction 

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

Rich: Matchweek 22 sees Tottenham Hotspur play Manchester United. This is the first big test for Ole Gunnar Solsjkaer who has won his first five matches as Manchester United boss. However, this is the first time his team is up against one of the top four. Spurs are in pretty good form although they lost their last home match against Wolves. This will be a much more attacking game than it would have been under Mourinho and I think United might keep up their recent fine form. I’m going for a United win. Final score: Tottenham 1-2 Manchester United.

Jack: I’m not so sure. I think Spurs will win 3-1.

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.