Matchweek 26 - Hit for Six

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 Spotify or 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: Let’s start with our headlines!

Headlines

Jack: City hit Chelsea for six.

Rich: Chelsea suffered their heaviest ever Premier League defeat as a magnificent City team put six goals past the Blues to go back to the top of the table. Sergio Aguero got another Premier League hat-trick, Raheem Sterling got two and Ilkay Gundogan got the other. It could have been more - Aguero also hit the bar and missed a sitter. 

Jack: Liverpool stroll past Bournemouth.

Rich: Goals from Sadio Mane, Georginio Wijnaldum and Mohamed Salah were enough for Liverpool to beat Bournemouth and get back to winning ways. Wijnaldum’s goal was brilliant and the Liverpool team will now enjoy a training camp in Spain before they return to action in 10 days time.

Jack: United back in top four.

Rich: Manchester Utd’s unbeaten run is now up to 11 matches and 10 of those have been wins. United’s latest victims were Fulham as United ran out 3-0 winners. Paul Pogba ran the show for United and he scored two of the goals - his twelfth and thirteenth goals of the season. The other goal was scored by Anthony Martial who went on a run from his own half to finish in spectacular style.

Jack: That City result. 6-0! Wow!

Rich: It really could have been ten! City were sensational but Chelsea’ defence. I heard the commentator describe them as mannequins. 

Jack: Probably a fair description.

Vocabulary alert!

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

Rich: Our six words and phrases this week are: to hit the bar, to miss a sitter, to get back to winning ways, to run out, to run the show, and to go on a run.

Jack: Let’s start with to hit the bar. The bar is the crossbar of the goal - the horizontal piece of metal that connects the two posts. 

Rich: Sergio Aguero hit the bar in the second half. This means he shot and the ball hit the bar. We say the same for the post. He hit the post. Unlucky.

Jack: The next one is one we’ve looked at before: to miss a sitter. A sitter is a really easy change. Sergio Aguero missed a sitter against Chelsea although I’m sure he doesn’t mind too much!

Rich: Liverpool got back to winning ways against Bournemouth. To get back to winning ways means to win again after not winning for a while.

Jack: Liverpool had drawn their two previous matches but got back to winning ways against Bournemouth.

Rich: The next phrase is to run out. To run out has many meanings and one of the most common means to run out of a supply of something. We might run out of petrol and our car stops or run out of milk and have to have black coffee.

Jack: It’s quite a difficult one to explain in football but let’s give it a go. When we say that Manchester Utd ran out 3-0 winners we are saying that when the match ran out of time, Manchester Utd were winning 3-0. They ran out 3-0 winners.

Rich: The next phrase is to run the show. Paul Pogba ran the show for Manchester United. The phrase means to be the star and be in charge of everything. 

Jack: That one was a bit easier. OK, the last phrase is to go on a run. Generally, it means to go outside for a run or jog - a bit of exercise. 

Rich: In football, it has two different meanings. If a team goes on a run, it usually means they are winning matches consecutively. You could say a team went on a four-match winning run before they were beaten.

Jack: In the headlines, we said that Anthony Martial went on a run from his own half. To go on a run can also mean to run with the ball at your feet or to dribble.  

Football Awards

Jack: Right, every week, we give out three Matchweek awards. 

Rich: The awards are Player of the Week, Team of the Week and Goal of the Week.

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

Rich: Let’s start with Player of the Week. There were some strong performances in Matchweek 26.

Jack: Sergio Aguero got another hat-trick, Raheem Sterling was fantastic in the same game, Georginio Wijnaldum great for Liverpool and Burnley’s goalkeeper, Tom Heaton pulled off some brilliant saves against Brighton.

Rich: But, our Player of the Week is Manchester United’s Paul Pogba. Like we said earlier, he ran the show against Fulham and he’s having his best spell in a Manchester Utd shirt.

Jack: What about our Team of the Week? I think it’s quite an easy choice this week.

Rich: Yes, it is. Our Team of the Week is Manchester City for quite simply the best performance we have seen in the Premier League this season.

Jack: Finally, Goal of the Week. Sergio Aguero scored a cracker, Anthony Martial’s run and finish for Manchester Utd was special but we’re going to go for Georginio Wijnaldum for his goal for Liverpool against Bournemouth.

Rich: It was a lovely lob - right over the goalkeeper’s head. Brilliant.

Matchweek Prediction 

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

Rich: We have to wait a whole two weeks for Matchweek 27.

Jack: Yes, there are FA Cup matches this weekend, but it will be worth the wait.

Rich: Yes, it will because Matchweek 27 sees Manchester United take on Liverpool at Old Trafford. This is always one of the biggest matches of the season but this one is bigger than usual. It’s Liverpool’s game in hand on Manchester City and will go three points clear if they manage to win. United, though, are back in the top four and haven’t lost a match under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. As always, this match is difficult to predict. I think Liverpool will feel a lot of pressure in this one. I fancy Liverpool to take an early lead but United to come back into it. I’m going for a final score of Manchester United 1-1 Liverpool.

Jack: I’m not going to sit on the fence in this one. I think United will win 2-1.

Rich: We’ll see. Make your predictions on the Premier Skills English website. You get one point if you predict the right result and three points if you predict the right score.

Jack: 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. 

Rich: Bye for now and enjoy your football.