Matchweek 29: Red-faced

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 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: Don’t forget that we also have our weekly Premier Skills English Podcast that is released every Friday. Every week we help you with some different vocabulary or an aspect of grammar.

Jack: Our latest podcast is called Understanding Grammar: Reflexive Pronouns. We look at words such as myself, yourself and ourselves. You can find the lesson on the Premier Skills English homepage, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and most other podcast platforms now. 

Rich: But let’s start this show by reminding ourselves of three of the big matches in Matchweek 29 with our headlines.

Headlines

Jack: Manchester is red.

Rich: Manchester United beat Manchester City to do the double over their city rivals. City goalkeeper, Ederson, was left red-faced as he first allowed an Anthony Martial volley to go under him in the first half and then made a mess of a throw to allow Scott McTominay to fire a shot into an empty net late on.

Jack: Chelsea ruin Ancelotti’s return to the Bridge.

Rich: Chelsea stunned Everton with four goals in the first hour at Stamford Bridge to keep the Blues in fourth place and disappoint Carlo Ancelotti on his return to the club he managed for two years. Mason Mount and Pedro scored early on and then Willian and Olivier Giroud added to the scoreline early on in the second half.

Jack: Reds just two wins away from the big prize.

Rich: Liverpool need just two more wins to confirm themselves as Premier League Champions for the first time. The Reds beat Bournemouth 2-1. There was a scare for the Champions-elect when Callum Wilson scored early on but goals from Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane were enough to win the game for the Reds. In fact, Liverpool might need two wins. If City lose their game in hand to Arsenal and lose to Burnley next Saturday, Liverpool will be Champions next weekend.

Jack: So, Liverpool could be Champions this time next week?

Rich: Exciting times but I hope we’ve got our eyes on the next two fixtures against Atletico Madrid and Everton. These are games we want to win.

Jack: And a massive win for Manchester United in the derby against City. United have done the double over their rivals for the first time in a while.

Rich: Yes, lots of happy Manchester United fans this week even if it helped Liverpool move closer to the Premier League title.

Jack: There were also good wins for Sheffield United, Arsenal, Crystal Palace and Newcastle.

Vocabulary alert!

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

Jack: Our six words and phrases this week are: to do the double, red-faced, to stun someone, early on, Champions-elect and a game in hand.

Rich: Let’s start by talking about the Manchester Derby. We said that United have done the double over City.

Jack: To do the double means to beat another team home and away in the same season in the league.

Rich: United have done the double over City. They beat them 2-0 at home and 2-1 away.

Jack; We use the preposition ‘over’ United have done the double over City.

Rich: We said that the City goalkeeper, Ederson was left red-faced.

Jack: To be red-faced means to be very embarrassed. Ederson was probably a little embarrasses by his mistakes. He should have saved the first goal and made a mistake when he threw the ball out for the second goal. 

Rich: The term red-faced is usually used to describe someone else and how they are probably feeling. You don’t usually use it about yourself. You don’t say I’m red-faced you say I’m embarrassed.

Jack: We often use the verb leave with red-faced. Ederson was left red-faced. He was by himself - isolated and embarrassed.

Rich: Let’s move on to talk about Chelsea’s big win against Everton.

Jack: We said Chelsea stunned Everton.

Rich: We see this word in football headlines a lot. It means to surprise someone but is much stronger.

Jack: Nobody thought Chelsea would beat Everton so easily. Most people thought it would be a close game but Chelsea stunned Everton with four goals.

Rich: It can also be used as an adjective to describe a feeling. I was stunned.

Jack: It can also be used as an adjective to describe something else. It was a stunning goal. Here it means fantastic and surprising.

Rich: It can be used as a noun in a similar way. That goal was an absolute stunner. What a stunner!

Jack: We said that Chelsea scored two goals early on.

Rich: Early on is an idiomatic phrase and it means at an early stage of something.

Jack: Chelsea scored in the 14th and 20th minutes. They scored early on in the match.

Rich: We can use it for other things outside of football. You could see things like ‘I knew that he was the villain early on in the film’ or ‘He had to learn to look after himself early on in life’.

Jack: We can also use the phrase ‘late on’. In the first headline, we said that Scott Mctominaty scored late on for Manchester United.

Rich: Finally, let’s talk about Liverpool’s win against Bournemouth. Liverpool only need two more wins to become Champions so we called them the Champions-elect.

Jack: We said 'there was a scare for the Champions-elect’. This phrase ‘Champions-elect’ is used in football to describe a team that will soon become Champions or is nearly certain of winning the league.

Rich: It is also used for a person who has been selected, chosen or elected to a position but is not yet working in that position.

Jack: Our final football phrase this week is a game in hand. A team has a game in hand when they’ve played one game fewer than another team.

Rich: If Manchester City lose their game in hand, Liverpool will win the Premier League.

Jack: OK, so there are the six words and phrases. We now want you to listen to the headlines again and listen for those six words and phrases. The six words and phrases are: to do the double, red-faced, to stun someone, early on, Champions-elect and a game in hand.

Jack: Manchester is red.

Rich: Manchester United beat Manchester City to do the double over their city rivals. City goalkeeper, Ederson, was left red-faced as he first allowed an Anthony Martial volley to go under him in the first half and then made a mess of a throw to allow Scott McTominay to fire a shot into an empty net late on.

Jack: Chelsea ruin Ancelotti’s return to the Bridge.

Rich: Chelsea stunned Everton with four goals in the first hour at Stamford Bridge to keep the Blues in fourth place and disappoint Carlo Ancelotti on his return to the club he managed for two years. Mason Mount and Pedro scored early on and then Willian and Olivier Giroud added to the scoreline early on in the second half.

Jack: Reds just two wins away from the big prize.

Rich: Liverpool need just two more wins to confirm themselves as Premier League Champions for the first time. The Reds beat Bournemouth 2-1. There was a scare for the Champions-elect when Callum Wilson scored early on but goals from Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane were enough to win the game for the Reds. In fact, Liverpool might need two wins. If City lose their game in hand to Arsenal and lose to Burnley next Saturday, Liverpool will be Champions next weekend.

Football Awards

Jack: Right, every week, we give out three Matchweek awards. The awards are Player of the Week, Team of the Week and Goal of the Week.

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

Jack: Let’s start with Player of the Week. There were some great performances last weekend. We could go for Sheffield United’s Dean Henderson who made some great saves, Newcastle United’s Allan Saint-Maximin who is so exciting to watch or Chelsea’s new teenage sensation Billy Gilmour.

Rich: But we’re going to go with Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes. A beautiful assist for Martial and he has single-handedly changed United’s season.

Jack: OK, Team of the Week. It’s between Chelsea and Manchester United for me. Let’s go with United. To do the double over City is great but when they are your city rivals it’s even sweeter.

Rich: Finally, our Goal of the Week. We’re going to leave this one to you. We’re going to give you three options and you need to tell us which you think was best.

Jack: Goal number one: Scott McTominay for Manchester United against Manchester City. We know it was a mistake from the goalkeeper but it was still a great finish from the scot.

Rich: Goal number two: Mason Mount for Chelsea v Everton. A great finish that beat the keeper at the near post.

Jack: Goal number three: Billy Sharp for Sheffield United versus Norwich City. An unstoppable header to win the game for the Blades.

Rich: OK. Those are our three options. Did you see them? Which do you think was the best? 

Jack: Let us know your choice and if you agree with our other weekly awards in our comments section on the Premier Skills English website.

Matchweek Prediction 

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

Rich: I went with a surprise United win in the Manchester Derby last week.

Jack: A great prediction. Let’s see how you get on this week.

Rich: Matchweek 30 may see Liverpool win the Premier League title at their local rivals during the Merseyside Derby so I’m going to look at Everton against Liverpool. Everton had been in good form and going up the table under Carlo Ancelotti until they were stunned by Chelsea going down to a disappointing 4-0 defeat. Liverpool have only lost one match all season and got back to winning ways against Borneliuth last week. The Reds will want to win the Derby and the match will be played at a really fast pace. I think Liverpool will win the match but will have to wait another week for the Premier League title much to the Everton fans’ relief. Final score: Everton 0-1 Liverpool.

Jack: I think Liverpool will win and City will lose one of their games in hand so Liverpool will win the title at Goodison Park. You heard it here first!

Rich: 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. 

Jack: If you listen to us on Apple Podcasts, don’t forget to leave us a review. We’d love to hear from you. 

Rich: If you have any questions or comments or suggestions for the podcast or anything football or English related, you can leave them on the website in the comments section or you can email us at premierskills@britishcouncil.org.

Jack: Bye for now and enjoy your football.