Matchweek 24

Introduction

Rich: Hello my name’s Rich and welcome to our Monday round-up section on Premier Skills English.  

Jack: Hi there. I’m Jack. Every Monday we discuss last weekend’s action, the best players, the best matches, Fantasy Football, and make some predictions for next weekend.

Rich: We want you to practise your English and interact with Premier League fans from around the world in our comments section.

Jack: You can do this on the Premier Skills English website or the Premier Skills-British Council Facebook page - if that’s where you are listening to us.

Rich: There were some great matches in Matchweek 24 so let’s get on with this week’s round-up!

Headlines

Rich: Chelsea back amongst the goals.

Jack: Chelsea’s last three matches had finished in goalless draws but they had their shooting boots on against Brighton. It finished 4-0 to the Blues. Eden Hazard scored twice with Willian and Victor Moses also getting on the scoresheet. Chelsea are unbeaten in 12 matches in all competitions but this was their first Premier League win in 2018. 

Rich: Aguero gets City back on track.

Jack: Sergio Aguero scored his seventh Premier League hat-trick as Manchester City beat Newcastle 3-1. City dominated the match but needed Aguero’s perfect hat-trick to maintain their twelve point lead at the top of the table.

Rich: Garcia in, Silva out at Watford.

Jack: Marco Silva was sacked as Watford manager following the team’s 2-0 defeat at Leicester City on Saturday. Watford have only won once in their last 11 Premier League matches. Silva has been replaced with Javi Garcia has previously managed in Spain, Greece and Russia.

Definition Alert!

Rich: City needed Aguero’s perfect hat-trick to maintain their twelve point lead at the top of the table. Perfect hat-trick - you don’t hear this phrase very often. What does it mean?

Jack: Let’s start with the word hat-trick. Many of you will already know that a hat-trick is one player scoring three goals in one match.

Rich: Yes, I knew this but it’s an interesting phrase, isn’t? Do we know anything else about it?

Jack: Well, from my in-depth research …

Rich: Looking on Wikipedia?

Jack: Yes, looking on Wikipedia. Anyway, it says that hat-trick was first used in cricket in the 19th century to describe a bowler that takes three consecutive wickets. 

Rich: So, it was always three of something … and a perfect hat-trick?

Jack: That one is easier. A perfect-hat trick is when a player scores three goals; one with the right foot, one with the left foot and one with the head.

Rich: So Aguero scored a perfect hat-trick!

Jack: And you were right when you said it wasn’t a phrase that we hear that often too. That’s because it’s the first perfect hat-trick in the Premier League since October 2015. Guess who scored it?

Rich: Sergio Aguero?

Jack: Right! And who was he playing against?

Rich: Newcastle?

Jack: Yes!

Matchweek Awards

Rich: Right, every Monday, we give out three matchweek awards. Player of the Week, Team of the Week and Match of the Week.

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

Rich: These awards always create a lot of discussion. Lots of you agreed with Liverpool-Man City as our Match of the Week last Week but not many of you agreed with our choice as West Brom as our Team of the Week.

Jack: Let’s start this week with our Player of the Week. There were some great individual performances in the Premier League last week.

Rich: Yes, there were. Mesut Ozil was back for Arsenal and helped the Gunners destroy Palace with four goals in the first twenty minutes. Willian and Eden Hazard were brilliant for Chelsea and Joe Allen helped Stoke City get their first win under their new manager.

Jack: But our Player of the Week this week is Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero. A perfect hat-trick and a perfect result for City at the top of the table.

Rich: Right, our next award is for Team of the Week. There were good wins for Manchester Utd, Stoke, Chelsea, Leicester and City but our Team of the Week this week is Arsenal.

Jack: Arsenal may be about to lose Alexis Sanchez to Manchester Utd but with players like Mesut Ozil in the team they can still be brilliant to watch. Four goals in just 15 minutes blew Palace away. 

Rich: You must be happy to see Arsenal playing well, Jack.

Jack: Yes, I am. It’s been a difficult few weeks for Arsenal. I’m hoping we can follow this up with a win against Chelsea in the cup.

Rich: Finally, what about Match of the Week?

Jack: There were some cracking matches last weekend but the best match I saw was Brighton against Chelsea. Chelsea won 4-0 but it was not one-sided. Brighton had lots of chances and could have had a penalty too. I think the difference between the two sides was that Chelsea had Eden Hazard and they could finish the chances that came their way.

Rich: OK, good choice. Brighton- Chelsea - let’s see what other people think to our choices in the comments section on the Premier Skills English website.

Fantasy Football

Rich: What’s been happening in Fantasy Football this week, Jack?

Jack: The top scoring player in matchweek 24 was Chelsea’s Victor Moses and City’s Sergio Aguero. They both scored 17 points.

Rich: We didn’t have Moses in the Premier Skills team but we had Aguero as our captain which means 34 points!

Jack: The Premier Skills team has gone back into the top 10 after scoring 80 points last week.

Rich: But our Fantasy Football Premier Skills Team of the Week is Slemania FC managed by Andra Tetuko from Indonesia. Andra’s team already has 79 points with Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah still to play for Liverpool tonight! 

Jack: And it was another good week for our leader in the Premier Skills League, Gerardo Lopez from Mexico. He’s been leading the league for six matchweeks now. Can anyone stop him?

Matchweek Prediction

Jack: Last week’s prediction was Arsenal against Crystal Palace. We both went for Arsenal wins and Arsenal won 4-1 so well done to us. 

Rich: But we weren't the only ones to get our predictions right. Well done to Khaldoun83 from Algeria, Umlaut Team Gubin from Poland and Ahmed Adam from Sudan.

Jack: What’s this week’s prediction, Rich?

Rich: This weekend there are FA Cup matches in England so we have to wait until next Tuesday and Wednesday for Matchweek 25 in the Premier League.

Jack: That’s the 30th and 31st of January. But it’s a big one!

Rich: Yes, it is. Wednesday the 31st of January sees Manchester United travel to London to play Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley Stadium. United need to win to keep the Premier League title race alive and Spurs need to win to stay in touch with the top four. This is going to be a great game. United will probably try to defend and catch Spurs on the break.But it’s a dangerous game trying to defend against Heung Min Son, Christian Eriksen and Harry Kane. I think Spurs will have too much firepower for United. Final score: Tottenham 2-1 Manchester United

Jack: Ohh! I’m not sure. I think United will park the bus and get a goal on the counter-attack. 1-0 to United.

Rich: We’ll see … we want you to make your prediction at the bottom of the page on the website. Are you a good predictor? 

Jack: Right, that’s all we have time for. I hope you have enjoyed this football round-up. 

Rich: Don’t forget to join the discussion at the bottom of the page. 

Jack: If you have enjoyed this roundup or found it useful, leave us a review or rating and that will help other people find us. Bye for now and enjoy your football!