This Week: Premier League Prediction Four

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

In This Week, we’ve got lots of interesting words and phrases to help you talk about football in English.

If you are listening to this podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify you can also visit the Premier Skills English website at premierskillsenglish.britishcouncil.org where you’ll be able to download the podcast.

On the Premier Skills English website, you can read the transcript and join the Premier Skills English community by completing a language task in the comments section. This will really help you remember the new words and phrases from the stories from the Premier League.

This is the fourth of a series of prediction podcasts. I have made predictions about the teams who are going to struggle to survive and about which team will surprise people the most and who will be the best player and today I am going to make a prediction about which teams are going to finish in the top four.

But before I make my prediction, I want to give you the answer to yesterday’s football phrase. If you didn’t hear it yesterday, here’s one more chance to guess now.

Yesterday’s football phrase was a club. The club I am looking for today is the oldest in the Premier League and is also associated with one of the oldest stories in England.

Now, some people suggested Crystal Palace is the oldest club and it’s true that on the club’s website, it says that the club can draw an established link to a Crystal Palace football club that was established in 1861. However, that club stopped playing in 1876 and the club’s registration with the Football Association lapsed so that when Crystal Palace was re-established in 1905, it was launched as a new club. I didn’t know this when I was writing the football phrase question so I thought that the oldest club was Nottingham Forest which was established in 1865 and is associated with the tale of Robin Hood through the Sheriff of Nottingham and Sherwood Forest. Hasan suggested Sheffield United which is almost correct again. The oldest club still playing association football as recognised by the FA and FIFA is Sheffield FC, but they are not a Premier League team. They were established in 1857 so not long before the older Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest.

Congratulations to AhmadAmr from Egypt, Alex from Ukraine, Chen Meng Tso from Taiwan, Andretorre102 from Brazil, Vinicius77 from Brazil, Isshin from Japan, Hasan from Turkey, Ali Abedini from Iran, welcome to Premier Skills English Ali Abedini and congratulations to Ken from Japan.

Keep listening till the end of the podcast for a new football phrase.

Now, it’s time for me to make my fourth prediction.

Question 4. Who will finish in the top four?

Now we’re into the big-money predictions. The top four places are the Champions League places and that means even greater riches and glory.

Manchester City and Arsenal are almost certain to finish in the top four. Liverpool and Manchester United are the most obvious choices for the other two spots, but Chelsea under Pochettino are a good bet and Newcastle also have a chance.

Spurs should have a chance, but without Kane I’m not sure how well they will do. I am keen to see what impact Maddison can make, but a top four finish will be a stretch.

For the third spot, I am going to go for Liverpool. The additions of Mac Allister and Szoboszlai in midfield will give them an attacking edge that will be hard to defend against.

The team in the fourth spot for me will be Chelsea. Chelsea has the talent in the team for a top four finish if only Pochettino can get them playing properly. Their pre-season performances look promising so I think they will finish in the top four. But Manchester United will be right behind them.

Language Focus

The language that I am going to focus on from this prediction is:

• Almost certain to
• A good bet
• Have a chance
• Will be a stretch
• To go for

If you hear someone say that something is almost certain to happen, they believe that it is very likely. The adjective certain means knowing for sure, without any doubt that something is true. The question ‘are you certain?’ is the same ‘as are you sure?’ So if an event or action is almost certain to happen, you are saying that you are almost sure. You are very confident that it will happen, but you’re not quite certain. You still have some doubts, but not many. You are almost certain that it is going to happen.

Yesterday, I spoke about the phrase the smart money. Today, I used another phrase from gambling. I said that Chelsea are a good bet. That means that I think that betting money on Chelsea finishing in the top four would be likely to win you some money. If something is a good bet, you believe that there is a high chance that it will happen. It’s not quite as strong as saying that something is almost certain, but if something is a good bet, you believe that it will probably happen.

I also said that Newcastle have a chance of finishing in the top four. I spoke about this in an earlier prediction as well, but to have a chance means that something is possible. To have a good chance means that something is likely. And if you have no chance at all, then it is impossible.

I said that it will be a stretch for Spurs to finish in the top four. I like this phrase. The word stretch has several meanings. The most common is the verb form. To stretch means to make something longer by pulling it from both ends . You can also stretch your body by making it as long as possible. Before you do exercise, it’s a good idea to stretch your muscles and warm up. If you try to do something very vigorous, for example try to leap to get to a ball, before your muscles have warmed up, you might hurt yourself. This doesn’t help with predictions though. So I am quite tall. I can change lightbulbs in my house without getting a step ladder, but it’s not easy for me. I can do it, but I have to stretch to succeed. So if a task is a stretch for someone, it is possible, but it’s not easy. In the dictionary, the description for this use said a stretch is a difficult task because it’s not something you do normally. However, I just meant that finishing in the top four will be difficult for Spurs ... possible, but difficult.

The last bit of language that I want to talk about is the phrasal verb to go for. I said for the third spot, I’m going to go for Liverpool. I have checked in the dictionary and this phrasal verb is marked as a UK phrasal verb, but I think it’s used in other Englishes. It means to choose something. If you are in a restaurant, you might say: I’m going to go for the fish and chips. Have you decided what you’re going to go for? It’s quite a common phrasal verb. It’s more common than to plump for, but it’s used in a very similar way. You might ask someone: what did you go for in the end? If you know that they were trying to decide between different options.

Language Challenge

Your challenge today is to make your own prediction about which teams are going to finish in the top four. I’m going to publish my final prediction tomorrow. For each episode, I want to read about your predictions and then, at the end of the season, I’ll look back and we can see whose predictions were the most accurate.

Football Phrase

Now it’s time for today's football phrase.

Today’s football phrase is a player. Which Ecuadorian defensive midfielder has just signed for Chelsea? This is more of a football quiz than a football English challenge. I’ll switch back to football English after the predictions.

If you know the answer, be sure to leave it in a comment on the page for this podcast on Premier Skills English.

And that’s all I have time for today. Before I finish, I just wanted to say that I hope you found this podcast useful, and I hope all of you stay fit and healthy and safe.

Bye for now and enjoy your football.