This Week: In the driving seat

This Week: In the driving seat

Laura: Hello my name’s Laura and welcome to our weekly round-up section called ‘This Week’ on Premier Skills English. 

Jack: Hi there. I’m Jack. We’ve got lots of interesting words and phrases to help you talk about football in English.

Rich: My name’s Rich. If you want to listen and read at the same time we have a transcript of this podcast on the Premier Skills English website.

Jack: We’re going to look at three headlines from this weekend’s action and after each, we’ll look at a couple of useful phrases. 

Rich: We want you to use and practise these words and phrases by interacting with Premier League fans from around the world in our comments section.

Laura: 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 of our latest content on the Premier Skills English homepage or the Premier Skills-British Council Facebook page. 

Rich: The words and phrases we are looking at this week are: to be stretchered off, a clash of heads, side, end-to-end, to be in the driving seat and to turn something on its head.

Laura: Later on we’ll also have a language challenge for you to have a go at so you need to be ready for that.

Headline 1

Jack: Wolves win at Arsenal for the first time in forty years.

Laura: Wolverhampton Wanderers won away at Arsenal for the first time since 1979 in a game that was overshadowed by a serious injury to the Mexican striker, Raul Jimenez. The Wolves player was stretchered off after an accidental clash of heads with Arsenal’s David Luiz. The game was settled by goals from Pedro Neto and Castelo Podence despite an equaliser by Arsenal’s Gabriel.

Rich: It was a really serious injury for Raul Jimenez. He was taken to hospital straight away and we send our best wishes for a speedy recovery for the player.

Jack: Our two bits of language from our first headline are both connected to injuries on the pitch.

Laura: I said that Raul Jimenez was stretchered off.

Rich: A stretcher is a piece of cloth with poles in each corner that is used to carry a person if they have been injured and can not walk.

Jack: Stretchers are used on sports pitches when players suffer serious injuries.

Laura: The phrase to be stretchered off means that a player was taken off the pitch on a stretcher. 

Rich: Laura said that Raul Jimenez was stretchered off after a clash of heads with David Luiz.

Jack: This phrase a clash of heads is used when two players hit or knock their heads against each other accidentally.

Laura: A clash of heads often happens at corners or free-kicks when two players are going for the same ball.

Headline 2

Rich: Leeds get back to winning ways.

Jack: Leeds United won away at Everton with Raphina’s first goal in English football being the difference between the two sides. In an end-to-end game with lots of chances, the only surprise was that it took until the 80th minute for a goal to be scored. Leeds win for the first time in four while Everton’s bright start to the season seems to be slipping away.

Laura: A good win for Leeds that and they’re back up to mid-table. There were 38 shots in that match. I can’t believe there was only one goal.

Rich: Let’s look at a bit of language. The first word is side. This is a word we use a lot but I think it’s worth looking at.

Jack: We use the word side as a synonym of team or sports team. In the headline, I said that Raphina’s goal was the difference between the two sides.

Laura: We can talk about the home side, the away side and we can talk about a strong side or a weak side and we can finish on the winning side or the losing side.

Rich: The other phrase I want to look at from this headline is end-to-end or an end-to-end game. 

Jack: When we describe a match or a game as being end-to-end we are saying that there is a lot of attacking action at both ends of the pitch.

Laura: We are saying both sides are attacking and each side has had lots of chances to score.

Rich: We described the Everton-Leeds match as an end-to-end game. There were lots of chances for both sides.

Jack: Let’s move on to our final headline.

Headline 3 

Laura: United stage memorable comeback.

Rich: Manchester United staged a memorable comeback to beat Southampton by three goals to two. Jan Bednarek and James-Ward Prowse put Southampton in the driving seat but the introduction of Edinson Cavani turned the game on its head. Cavani scored twice and set up the other for Bruno Fernandes as United scored three times in the last half an hour to win the game.

Jack: This was probably the most exciting match of the weekend.  An injury-time winner and a come from behind victory.

Rich: Maybe not so exciting for Southampton fans. They were the better team in the first half and very much in the driving seat at the break.

Laura: This is the first phrase we want to look at from our final headline: to be in the driving seat.

Jack: To be in the driving seat or to be in the driver’s seat are idioms that mean to be in total control of a situation.

Rich: Southampton were two-nil up at half-time. They were in the driving seat. They were in control of the match.

Laura: But United came back to win 3-2. Rich said they turned the game on its head.

Jack: This is another idiom: to turn something on its head. It means to completely reverse what was happening before; to make the opposite happen.

Rich: Southampton were the better side - they were in the driving seat but United turned the match on its head in the second half. United were the better side and they won the game.

Laura: OK. We’ve looked at three stories and six bits of vocabulary in our headlines. The words and phrases we’ve looked at are: to be stretchered off, a clash of heads, side, end-to-end, to be in the driving seat and to turn something on its head.

Jack: Don’t forget to look at the website for the transcript if you want to check your understanding of this vocabulary.

Prediction

Rich: It’s time for this week’s Premier League prediction. Jack didn’t do so well last week. He thought Spurs would beat Chelsea but the match finished as a draw just as I had predicted.

Jack: OK, well it is your turn this week. What does your crystal ball tell you?

Rich: Let’s have a look. Oh, I see the North London Derby ahead next weekend.

Laura: You don’t need a crystal ball for that, Rich.

Rich: OK, all right, there’s nothing magical or mystical about my prediction this week. On Sunday I’ll be watching the 188th North London Derby between Tottenham and Arsenal and I can only see one outcome - a win for Spurs. Jose Mourinho has taken Tottenham to the top of the Premier League while Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal are down in 14th place and not in good form at all. I think Kane and Son will be too much for Arsenal’s defence. Final score: Tottenham 3-1 Arsenal.

Jack: My head says you’re probably right but it’s a derby so I’m going for a 2-1 win to Arsenal.

Laura: We want all of you to make your predictions for this match and all the Matchweek 11 fixtures on the Premier Skills English website.

Language Challenge

Rich: To finish up the show we’ve got a quick language challenge connected to this week’s vocabulary.

Laura: Earlier we looked at the idiom to turn something on its head. We’ve got three more idioms that use the word head.  We want you to write the missing word in the comments section on the Premier Skills English website.

Rich: I think Jack is letting his ______ rule his head with that prediction.

Jack: You just can’t _______ your head like that on the pitch. It was a definite red card.

Laura: I’m still _________ my head over how we lost that game. Over twenty shots and not one goal. Unbelievable!

Rich: We want you to write the answers on the Premier Skills English website where we have some more questions and activities connected to this week’s show.

Jack: Or write your answer on Apple Podcasts if that’s where you listen to us. Just write the answers in the review section and say hi.

Laura: Before we finish we just wanted to say that we hope you found this lesson useful and we hope that all of you stay fit and healthy.

Rich: Bye for now and enjoy your football.