This Week: Title Chances

This Week: Title Chances 

Laura: Hello my name’s Laura 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: My name’s Rich. If you want to listen and read at the same time we have a transcript of this podcast on the Premier Skills English website.

Laura: This week we focus on Manchester City and Arsenal.

Jack: We’re going to look at three headlines from the weekend’s action and look at some words and phrases connected to those headlines.

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

Laura: 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: The words and phrases we are looking at this week are: resilient, centre-half, warm up, spot, dent the hosts’ slim title chances and judged to have handled. 

Laura: Later on we’ll also have a language challenge for you to have a go at so you need to be ready for that.

Headline 1

Jack: City’s defensive duo defeat West Ham.

Laura: Manchester City made it twenty wins in a row with a 2-1 win against Champions League-chasing West Ham. Goals from centre-halves John Stones and Ruben Dias were enough for City despite a first-half equaliser from Michail Antonio for the resilient Hammers. 

Rich: City might be twelve points clear at the top but it wasn’t an easy win. West Ham hit the post and nearly got a last-minute equaliser.

Jack: West Ham defended really well - we described them as resilient.

Laura: This is our first word this week - resilient. Something that is resilient is able to return to how it was before despite problems or setbacks.

Rich: Children are often described as resilient. Something disappointing or bad might happen but they are usually happy again soon after.

Jack: Football teams are described as resilient when they defend well and keep their shape despite the other team attacking a lot.

Laura: We described West Ham as resilient as the defence kept their shape despite City attacking them a lot.

Rich: But it’s difficult to keep Manchester City out for 90 minutes - especially when even their centre-halves can score.

Jack: We pointed out that City’s goalscorers, Ruben Dias and John Stones, are both centre-halves.

Laura: A centre-half is a defender who plays in the middle of the defence. The word centre-back is also used.

Rich: Ruben Dias scored his first goal for Manchester City. City have had nineteen different goalscorers this season - more than any other club.

Jack: Let’s move on to our next headline.

Headline 2

Laura: Four stars for City and Arsenal.

Rich: Manchester City made it eight wins in a row as they chase Chelsea for top spot in the Women’s Super League and warmed up for a big Champions League tie this week. City beat Birmingham 4-0 and are now two points behind the leaders. Arsenal also won 4-0 away from home - they beat Aston VIlla as they chase Manchester United for a Champions League spot.

Jack: City are flying high in both the women’s and men’s games at the moment.

Laura: They will be looking to carry this form into Europe this week. City have a last 16 Champions League match against Fiorentina of Italy.

Rich: Chelsea have a big match, too. They are up against Atletico Madrid. 

Jack: We said that Manchester City warmed up for this Champions League match by beating Birmingham 4-0.

Laura: Here warm up means prepare for or get ready for something. We can use it to mean practise for an event that is more important.

Rich: To warm up is a phrasal verb. We usually warm up before we do sport. It means to do light exercises and stretches to prepare for sport or more serious exercise.

Jack: We usually warm up to avoid muscle injuries and get our bodies ready for more strenuous exercise.

Laura: The other word I want to look at is spot. We said that Manchester City are chasing Chelsea who are in top spot and Arsenal are chasing Manchester United for a Champions League spot.

Rich: Spot is another word for place. Chelsea are in first place - they are in top spot. Arsenal are chasing a Champions League spot - a place that will enable them to qualify for the Champions League.

Jack: Let’s move on to our final headline.

Headline 3

Rich: Foxes slip up at home.

Jack: Arsenal came from behind to beat Leicester 3-1 and dent the hosts’ slim title chances.  Youri Tielemens scored for the Foxes after only six minutes but Arsenal came back with a header from David Luiz, a penalty from Alexandre Lacazette, after Wilfried Ndidi was judged to have handled, and a close-range finish from Nicolas Pepe.

Laura: A good win for Arsenal and a good week. They also got through to the quarter-finals of the Europa League.

Jack: Yes, things are looking brighter for Arsenal.

Rich: Let’s look at some language. We’re going to break down some longer stretches of language from this headline. Listen to this: to dent the hosts’ slim title chances.

Laura: That’s quite difficult to understand. OK, so the hosts are the team that play at home - that was Leicester.

Jack: Leicester were in second spot before the game but a long way behind Manchester City. They have a chance of winning the title but probably only a slim chance.

Rich: A slim chance is a small possibility. Slim means thin or slight. Leicester only have a slim chance of winning the title and the defeat against Arsenal has hurt those chances.

Laura: Yes, it has dented them. Usually, dent means to make a small hole in something or, in a more abstract way, to hurt something. Defeat after defeat might dent a team’s confidence or pride.

Jack: So, we have this: Arsenal dent hosts’ slim title chances.

Rich: Which basically means Arsenal beating Leicester means Leicester now have less chance of winning the title.

Laura: Let’s look at one more bit of language from the headline: Wilfried Ndidi was judged to have handled. 

Jack: We see this sentence a lot in football reports when a penalty is given for handball: judged to have handled.

Rich: To judge means to decide about something after thinking carefully. Referees and VAR make decisions and judge whether goals should be given or disallowed and whether penalties should be given.

Laura: To handle means to touch something with your hands.

Jack: The Leicester midfielder, Wilfried Ndidi was judged by VAR to have handled the ball. He was judged to have handled. 

Rich: OK. We’ve looked at three stories and lots of vocabulary in our headlines. The words and phrases we’ve looked at were: resilient, centre-half, warm up, spot, dent the hosts’ slim title chances and judged to have handled. 

Laura: Listen to the headlines again to hear these words and phrases in context and don’t forget to look at the website for the transcript if you want to check your understanding of this vocabulary.

Headlines - Repeat

Prediction

Rich: In our prediction last week Jack went for a 1-0 win to Chelsea against Manchester United but the match finished in a nil-nil draw.

Laura: It wasn’t the most exciting of games but because Jack’s prediction was incorrect we’re back to Rich for this week’s prediction. It’s the Manchester Derby on Sunday.

Rich: Yes, it is. Derby matches can be very strange, and the form book often goes out of the window but will it this weekend when City host United at the Etihad? I don’t think it will - City are just too good at the moment. I don’t think it’ll be easy but I think City will win. Final score: Manchester City 2- Manchester United.

Jack: I’m not so sure. Derby matches so often end in draws. One-all for me.

Laura: I think the form book will go flying out of the window in this one. United to win 3-1.

Rich: What do you think the score will be? We want all of you to make your predictions for this match and all the Premier League fixtures which you can find on the Premier Skills English website.

Language Challenge

Jack: To finish up the show we’ve got a quick language  challenge connected to this week’s vocabulary.

Rich: Earlier we spoke about the phrasal verb warm up. We’re going to give you three more sentences which include phrasal verbs with up. Do you know the missing words?

Laura: Leicester’s chances of winning the title might be slim but they shouldn’t **** up.

Jack: It’s difficult when you score first but *** up on the losing side.

Rich: The goals have ***** up for Roberto Firmino this season.

Laura: We want you to write the answers on the Premier Skills English website where we have some more questions and activities connected to this week’s show.

Jack: Or write your answer on Apple Podcasts if that’s where you listen to us. Just write the answers in the review section and say hi.

Rich: Before we finish we just wanted to say that we hope you found this lesson useful and we hope all of you stay fit and healthy.

Laura: Bye for now and enjoy your football.