Matchweek 26: Make amends

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 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: Don’t forget that we also have our weekly Premier Skills English Podcast that is released every Friday. Every week we help you with some different vocabulary or an aspect of grammar.

Jack: Our latest podcast is called Learning Vocabulary: A piece of cake and in the roleplay, I’m planning to make a cake for Valentine’s Day and we look at lots of quantifiers. You can find it on the Premier Skills English homepage, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and most other podcast platforms now. 

Rich: Let’s start this week’s show by reviewing the Premier League action from Matchweek 26 part two.

Headlines

Jack: Son grabs late win for Spurs.

Rich: Tottenham went up to fifth with a 3-2 win at Aston Villa. Toby Alderweireld scored an own goal to give Villa an early lead but made amends when he equalised with a superb shot. Son Heung-Min scored from the rebound when Spurs were awarded a controversial penalty in first-half injury-time and following a Villa equaliser, the South Korean then found the winner for Spurs deep into second-half injury time.

Jack: Arsenal stroll to victory against Newcastle.

Rich: Arsenal recorded their biggest win of the season with a 4-0 home win against Newcastle. The Magpies parked the bus in the first half but Arsenal broke the deadlock early in the second half and the floodgates opened. Pierre- Emerick Aubameyang scored with a header, Nicolas Pepe scored less than two minutes later and Mesut Ozil and Alexandre Lacazette completed the scoring.

Jack: Burnley stun Saints with screamer.

Rich: Burnley have won back to back away games in the Premier League for the first time in nearly two years as they beat Southampton 2-1. Ashley West wood scored directly from a corner after only 93 seconds, Danny Ings with his fifteenth of the season equalised for the Saints but Matej Vydra got the winner in the second half. The Czech international scored his first goal in 511 days but it was worth the wait. It was a beauty.

Jack: There was also another win for Liverpool and a goalless draw between Wolves and Leicester and there’s the small matter of Chelsea against Manchester United. They’re playing tonight - Monday night.

Vocabulary alert!

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

Rich: Our six phrases this week are: to make amends, a rebound, to park the bus, to open the floodgates, back to back and a beauty.

Jack: Let’s start by talking about Tottenham’s win against Aston Villa. We said that Toby Alderweireld made amends.

Rich: To make amends means to correct a mistake that you have caused. It’s normally used to talk about situations that involve others.

Jack: Alderwiereld scored an own goal but he made amends by scoring a goal in the right net a few minutes later.

Rich: The next word is a rebound. A rebound is when the ball bounces back off the post, a bar or a goalkeeper following a shot.

Jack: We said that Son Heung-Min scored from a rebound. In this case, Son took a penalty, the goalkeeper saved it but the ball rebounded out to him and he scored.

Rich: Let’s talk about Arsenal’s big win against Newcastle.

Jack: Yes, let’s. We said that Newcastle parked the bus in the first half. This is a funny phrase. It means to defend a lot and very deep with most, if not all, of your team. 

Rich: A team who parks the bus doesn’t have much interest in scoring and wants to try to get a nil-nil draw.

Jack: But they didn’t because Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s goal opened the floodgates for Arsenal

Rich: To open the floodgates is a phrase we use in football to describe a team that was defending without conceding for a long time but then starts to concede a lot.

Jack: Arsenal scored one which meant that Newcastle had to attack more and the floodgates opened - Arsenal scored again and again and again.

Rich: The phrase can be used more generally, too. Let’s think about the phrase’s literal meaning first. A flood happens when there is too much water in an area that is normally dry. Floods usually happen when there is a lot of rain.

Jack: A floodgate is something that is used to stop flooding in a specific area.  So opening a floodgate lets lots of water through and releases the pressure. The phrase’s non-literal meaning is similar because it’s used to describe an event that removes a barrier or changes the situation.

Rich: Let’s think of a couple of examples. Imagine someone who never ever shows their emotions, but perhaps they are really stressed at work, then one day something happens, like their boss shouts at them,  and suddenly the floodgates open. This would mean that this person is suddenly much more emotional and may cry a lot.

Jack: We often hear the phrase used to speak about the law. You might read an example such as ‘if they win the court case, it will open the floodgates to thousands of similar cases.’

Rich: Let’s talk about our final match, Burnley’s win at Southampton. We said that Burnley have won back to back away matches for the first time in nearly two years.

Jack: The phrase we want to look at here is back to back. It means two things in a row or consecutively. They won this match and they won the one before. They’ve won back to back away matches.

Rich: Manchester City won back to back Premier League titles in 2017/18 and 2018/19. Not this year though.

Jack: No, I don’t think so. Anyway, back to back is only for two things in a row, not three or more.

Rich: Our final bit of vocabulary this week is a beauty. We said that Matej Vydra scored a beauty. A beauty is something fantastic - a beautiful goal for example.

Jack: We use lots of nouns in this way to describe fantastic goals. We described the same goal as a screamer in the headline and we often use other nouns such as a cracker, a corker, a stunner or a belter.

Rich: A beauty is a common expression in Australia and New Zealand. 

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

Rich: The words and phrases are: to make amends, a rebound, to park the bus, to open the floodgates, back to back and a beauty.

Football Awards

Jack: Right, every week, we give out three Matchweek awards. 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. Only four games played this week so our choices are limited.

Rich: We could go with an Arsenal player. Bukayo Saka had a great game at left-back. Son Heung-Min was great for Spurs.

Jack: They would both be good choices but we’re going to go with Arsenal’s Nicolas Pepe. He scored one and set up two in Arsenal’s win.

Rich: OK, Team of the Week. It looks like there is only one choice here.

Jack: You’re right. Our Team of the Week is Arsenal. The Gunners haven’t had much to shout about this season but they look like they have turned a corner under Mikel Arteta.

Rich: Finally, our Goal of the Week. We’re going to leave this one to you. We’re going to give you three options and you need to tell us which you think was best.

Jack: Goal number one: Matej Vydra for Burnley against Southampton. A brilliant goal from a player who hadn’t scored for nearly a year and a half.

Rich: Goal number two: Toby Alderweireld for Spurs versus Aston Villa. A great effort into the corner as the defender made amends for his earlier own goal.

Jack: Goal number three: Mesut Ozil for Arsenal v Newcastle. It wasn’t the greatest finish but it came at the end of thirty-five Arsenal passes. A great team goal.

Rich: OK. Those are our three options. Did you see them? Which do you think was the best? 

Jack: Let us know your choice and if you agree with our other weekly awards in our comments section on the Premier Skills English website.

Matchweek Prediction 

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

Rich: I don’t know if my prediction was right last week because Chelsea and Manchester United haven’t played yet.

Jack: It’s probably best not to know. Which match are you going to look at this week?

Rich: There’s a big London Derby this weekend - Chelsea are at home to Tottenham. Tottenham are currently just one point behind Chelsea, prior to Chelsea’s home match against Manchester United, and have been closing the gap on their London rivals over the past few weeks. Spurs need to get the win more than Chelsea in the race for the Champions League but the two teams may see not losing as more important. For this reason, I’m going to be really boring and predict no goals. Final score: Chelsea 0-0 Tottenham.

Jack: That is boring. I think Chelsea will win 4-3.

Rich: 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. 

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

Rich: If you have any questions or comments or suggestions for the podcast or anything football or English related, you can leave them on the website in the comments section or you can email us at premierskills@britishcouncil.org.

Jack: Bye for now and enjoy your football.