Premier League Kick-off

Introduction 

Jack: It’s here! At last! After 2 long months and 22 days more the Premier League is back!

Rich: I know and I can’t wait for the talking to end and the action to start!

Jack: But, we’re not playing, we’re going to carry on talking.

Rich: You know what I mean ...

Jack: This week’s podcast is going to be all about the start of the new season and some of the things that we hope to see this season!

Rich: What about my team doing the double over your team - Arsenal. That would be a good start ...

Jack: Yeah, yeah … we’ll see about that …

Welcome - New Season

Rich: Hello my name’s Rich

Jack: and I’m Jack

Rich: and welcome to this week’s Premier Skills English podcast

Jack: Where we talk about football and help you with your English.

Jack: What’s happening this week, Rich?

Rich: In this week’s podcast, we’re going to talk about the big kick off; the start of the new Premier League season. We’re going to talk about some of the things that we would like to see this season and we’re also going to focus on some language that will help you speak about football and many other things.

Jack: That’s right. This week’s language focus is on different ways of saying what you would like to see happen and different phrases we use to respond to someone’s hopes depending on whether they think their hopes are realistic or not.

Rich: I’d like to see Liverpool win the Premier League this season.

Jack: You’ve got to be dreaming if you think that will happen. You’re living in cloud cuckoo land!

Rich: Yes, Jack that is the type of language we’re going to be looking at but you don’t have to crush my dreams right at the start of the season!

Jack: Sorry, yes. Liverpool, like everyone else, are in with a shout.

Rich: We’ll look at those phrases and a bit more in this week’s podcast.

Topic Focus - New Season 

Jack: So, the season is about to start let’s talk a bit about what we would like to see this season. Let’s start with the teams we’re looking forward to seeing in action.

Rich: As always, I’m looking forward to seeing the three promoted clubs in action. 

Jack: This season they are Newcastle United, Brighton & Hove Albion, and Huddersfield Town. Newcastle, of course, are returning to the Premier League after just one season away, but Brighton and Huddersfield are in the Premier League for the first ever time.

Rich: It’s especially brilliant for the fans of these two new Premier League clubs and it would be amazing if they could get some wins early in the season. That would give them confidence for the rest of the season. Any other teams you’re looking forward to watching?

Jack: Well, apart from my team, Arsenal, I’m looking forward to seeing Everton play this season. They’ve signed lots of new players, including Wayne Rooney from Manchester Utd.

Rich: Yes, a lot of pundits or football experts are picking them as their dark horse this season. I’m looking forward to watching Manchester City. I think they have improved their defence and will score lots of goals.

Jack: So, who do you think will win this season? 

Rich: It would be brilliant if Liverpool won the Premier League.

Jack: Well, it would be great for you and Liverpool fans. I, obviously, think it would be great if Arsenal won the Premier League. Let’s think of some things that everybody would like to see.

Rich: Everybody loves an underdog. Leicester City was an amazing story a couple of seasons ago. Who would you like to see surprise the Premier League this season?

Jack: Wouldn’t it be great if Huddersfield or Brighton could do the same as Leicester?

Rich: It would be amazing but I can’t see the same thing happening again. But you never know!

Jack: Wouldn’t it be brilliant to see a young player who nobody knows do well?

Rich: Yes that’d be cool, it’s great to have well-known players like Paul Pogba, Eden Hazard and Sergio Aguero in the Premier League, but there’s something special when a new young player does well. Do you know any young players that we should keep an eye on?

Jack: I know that he’s playing for a top club in the Premier League but I think it would be great to see Gabriel Jesus at Manchester City as top scorer this season. He’s only 20 years old.

Rich: I would like to see more of the Egyptian winger Ramadan Sobhi at Stoke City. I think he’s a very exciting player and he’s only 20. Sobhi is a player to keep an eye on. His Egyptian teammate Mohamed Salah at Liverpool is another player to keep an eye on.

Jack: And I would like to see Arsenal’s Alexandre Lacazette bang in the goals for Arsenal this season. Away from Arsenal, I think Swansea’s Tammy Abraham could surprise a few. He’s on a season long loan from Chelsea and looks like a good player. He’s just 19 years old.

Language Focus / Task - Would

Rich: We’ve just been talking about things that we would like to see in the Premier League and we used phrases with ‘would’  or ‘would like’ a lot.

Jack: But we often changed the phrase a little bit because if we say would, would like, would like all the time it becomes very boring.

Rich: We used three forms of ‘would like’.

Jack: The simplest was would like plus the infinitive: I would like to see Arsenal’s Alexandre Lacazette bang in the goals for Arsenal this season.

Rich: You can also say: I would like Liverpool to win the Premier League.

Jack: Another form was a conditional statement. Rich said: It would be brilliant if Liverpool won the Premier League. This is a really common form. Notice that the verb win is the past form in the if clause. 

Rich: The third form we used was a question, but it’s not really a question. The meaning is more like a sentence, but it’s a bit like a question tag - it’s an invitation to agree with us. So Jack said: Wouldn’t it be brilliant to see a young player who nobody knows do well? 

Jack: When you’ve finished listening to the podcast, have a look at the activities and explanations of these expressions on the page.

Rich: Then, we want you to think about your task for this week. We would like you to think of three things that you would like to see happen in the Premier League this season.

Jack: And in each answer, you should use a different way of using the word ‘would’ in your answer. Just like the examples that we used in this podcast.

Can you work out this week’s football phrase?

Rich: Have you got a football phrase for us this week? 

Jack: Yes, I have, but first, last week’s football phrase. The phrase was capacity crowd. This means that an event, like a football match, has sold all its tickets and there are no seats left - it’s a sell-out. There will be capacity crowds at football stadiums across the country for the new season.

Rich: And what’s this week’s phrase, Jack?

Jack: This week’s phrase is a **** *****. The phrase means a team that has an outside chance of winning a competition and might surprise a lot of people.

Rich: Nice. I used this phrase when describing Everton earlier in this podcast. Is that too much of a clue?

Jack: Probably. Right, that’s all we have time for this week! Don’t forget to write your answers to our questions and make a guess at our football phrase in the comments below.

Rich: Bye for now and enjoy your football!