Matchweek 37: Twists and turns

Introduction  

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

Rich: Hi there. I’m 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 headlines!

Headlines

Jack: Liverpool take title race to the last day.

Rich: The Premier League title will be decided on the final day after Liverpool got a late winner at Newcastle. In a match with plenty of twists and turns, Divock Origi headed home the winner in the 86th minute to give the Reds a 3-2 win.

Jack: Spurs wobble against Bournemouth.

Rich: Tottenham had two players sent off as they lost 1-0 to an injury-time goal at Bournemouth. Son Heung-Min was dismissed for a push on a Bournemouth defender at the end of the first half. At the beginning of the second half, Juan Foyth, was given his marching orders for a bad tackle on another defender. It looked like Spurs would hang on but ex-Chelsea player, Nathan Ake got the winner.

Jack: Chelsea clinch Champions League spot.

Rich: Chelsea’s 3-0 win against Watford means they will be playing in the Champions League next season. Second half goals from Ruben Loftus-Cheek, David Luiz and a lovely chip from Gonzalo Higuain gave the Blues all three points.

Jack: So, we have to wait and see who will win the Premier League but the top four looks like it’s decided.

Rich: Yes, Chelsea will join Liverpool and Manchester City in the Champions League and they will be joined by Tottenham unless there are some crazy results on the final day.

Jack: A bit of a disappointing finish to the season for Arsenal and Manchester United who will probably finish fifth and sixth.

Vocabulary alert!

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

Rich: Our six words and phrases this week are: twists and turns, to be sent off, to be dismissed, to be given your marching orders, to hang on and a chip.

Jack: Let’s start with the phrase twists and turns. This phrase is often used to describe a film or movie when there are lots of surprising changes in the plot or story.

Rich: It’s used in football in the same way. There were lots of twists and turns in the Newcastle-Liverpool match. Liverpool scored, Newcastle equalised, Liverpool went back in front, Newcastle equalised and then Liverpool got the winner.

Jack: The Premier League title race has also been full of twists and turns. The lead has changed more than ten times. I wonder if there will be a final twist in the tail? 

Rich: A twist in the tail. Another new phrase. We will let you Google that one.

Jack: The next few phrases; to be sent off, to be dismissed and to be given your marching orders all mean the same thing in football: to be given a red card.

Rich: To send somebody off is a phrasal verb and like the other two phrases we usually see it used in a passive structure which is the verb to be plus the verb in the third form.

Jack: This is because the subject of the sentence ‘the player’ is not the person who does the action - showing the red card. The referee does this.

Rich: So, we often read or say, ‘he was sent off’. The full sentence is ‘he was sent off by the referee’ but this is not necessary because we all know that it’s the referee who shows red cards.

Jack: The other two phrases to be dismissed and to be given your marching orders are used in a similar way. Son Heung-Min was dismissed for a push on a Bournemouth defender at the end of the first half.  

Rich: He was dismissed by the referee.

Jack: And, Juan Foyth, was given his marching orders for a bad tackle.

Rich: He was given his marching orders by the referee.

Jack: The next phrase is another phrasal verb. It is to hang on. This is a common phrasal verb; its most common meaning is to wait like when we say ‘Can you hang on for a minute?’

Rich: In football, it’s very common and it means to continue winning when things are difficult.  We said in the headlines ‘it looked like Spurs were going to hang on but Bournemouth scored in the last minute’.

Jack: Our final word this week can be a noun or a verb. The word is a chip or to chip. Gonzalo Higuain scored with a lovely chip against Watford.

Rich: A chip is when the ball is on the ground and you lift it into the air so it goes over a goalkeepers head and back down into the net.

Jack: Higuain chipped the ball over the goalkeeper’s head.

Rich: OK, so there are our six words and phrases. Listen to this part of the podcast again if you are not sure how to use them.

Jack: The words and phrases are: twists and turns, to be sent off, to be dismissed, to be given your marching orders, to hang on and a chip.

Football Awards

Jack: Right, every week, we give out three Matchweek awards. 

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

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

Rich: Let’s start with Player of the Week. There were some big performances in Matchweek 37.

Jack: Ruben Loftus-Cheek was great for Chelsea, Salomon Rondon had a good game for Newcastle and Dioga Jota was in fine form for Wolves.

Rich: But our Player of the Week is West Ham United’s Marko Arnautovic. Two goals for the Austrian striker and West Ham are finishing the season strongly.

Jack: The next award is for Team of the Week. There were great wins for West Ham, Liverpool, Wolves, Palace and Bournemouth.

Rich: But our team of the Week is Chelsea. A fine 3-0 win against Watford and Chelsea’s season could get better with a European semi-final to win this week.

Jack: Finally our Goal of the Week. There were some wonderful goals this weekend. Leander Dendoncker scored a superb volley for Wolves but our Goal of the Week is Gonzalo Higuain’s chip against Watford. A great goal.

Matchweek Prediction 

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

Rich: Make your predictions on the Premier Skills English website. You get one point if you predict the right result and three points if you predict the right score.

Jack: It’s the last round of the Premier League season and we all know what the big matches are. Let’s do one prediction each.

Rich: OK, I’ll start with Manchester City’s match away at Brighton. Manchester City need to win to have any chance of winning the Premier League title. City would rather be at home on the final day but I don’t think will be too worried about their trip to the south coast of England. Brighton are safe and won’t be relegated so don’t have much to play for. I can’t see them stopping City winning this one. Final score: Brighton 0-2 Manchester City.

Jack: the other important match is Liverpool against Wolves. Liverpool also need to win if they want to win the Premier League. Wolves have had a great season and knocked Liverpool out of the FA Cup. But Wolves have little to play for and Liverpool need to win and I think they will. Final score: Liverpool 3-1 Wolves.

Rich: So you think City will win the Premier League on the final day?

Jack: I think so and you think so, too but I imagine you are hoping that something different will happen.

Rich: I do and it could. We’ll have to wait until Sunday!

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 on the Premier Skills English website. 

Rich: If you listen to us on Apple Podcasts, don’t forget to leave us a review. We’d love to hear from you.

Jack: Bye for now and enjoy your football.