This Week: Derby Delight

This Week: Derby Delight

Jack: Hello my name’s Jack and welcome to our weekly round-up 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: If you are listening to this podcast on Apple podcasts or Spotify you can also visit the Premier Skills English website at britishcouncil.org/premierskillsenglish where you’ll be able to download the podcast. 

Rich: On the Premier Skills English website, you can read the transcript and join the Premier Skills English community by completing a language task in the comments section. This will really help you remember the new words and phrases we talk about from the stories from the Premier League. 

Jack: The words and phrases we are looking at this week are: derby, in the driving seat, all square, caught napping, clash and close range. Listen out for these phrases in the headlines and stories.

Rich: After we look at the language we’ll have a task for you to do then, we’ll announce our Player of the Week, and then there will be a new football phrase for you to guess.

Jack: OK, let’s hear this week’s three football stories!

Headline 1

Rich: Gunners blow Spurs away

Jack: A stunning first-half performance from Arsenal gave the hosts all three points in the North London Derby. Goals from Emile Smith-Rowe, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Bukayo Saka put Arsenal in the driving seat and despite a consolation goal from Son Heung-min, Tottenham never looked like getting back into it.

Rich: You’ve got to be happy with that performance, Jack.

Jack: It’s always nice to beat Spurs but to beat them really easily is even better.

Rich: After three matches Spurs were top of the table and Arsenal were bottom. Things are changing.

Jack: Yes, this result took us above Spurs in the table - things are looking brighter in our part of North London.

Rich: OK, let’s look at some language. We were just talking about the North London Derby between Arsenal and Spurs. The first word I want to look at is derby.

Jack: A derby is a match played between two teams from the same city or region.

Rich: Derby matches are often some of the most exciting matches of the season and are definitely played in front of some of the loudest crowds.

Jack: There are lots of derby matches in the Premier League. The North London Derby is one. How many more do you know? Let us know in the comments section at the bottom of the page.

Rich: Why do we use the word derby about these matches?

Jack: It’s not 100% certain but most people think it comes from horse racing. The Derby was an important horse race and the match against your local rivals is always one of the most important matches of the season. 

Rich: The next phrase I want to look at is: 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: Arsenal’s three first-half goals put them in the driver’s seat. They were in the driving seat. They were in control of the match.

Jack: In the headline I said, goals from Emile Smith-Rowe, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Bukayo Saka put Arsenal in the driving seat.

Rich: Let’s move on to our second headline.

Headline 2

Jack: Buzzing Bees hold Reds

Rich: Brentford and Liverpool finished all square after a three-all thriller in West London. The Bees took a surprise lead through Ethan Pinnock, but Liverpool came back to lead 2-1 and 3-2. However, the Reds were caught napping on more than one occasion and Yoane Wissa chipped the ball over Allison to grab a point for the home side.

Jack: A three-all draw - what a game but you have to be disappointed with a draw against Brentford.

Rich: Yes because they are newly-promoted but no because Brentford have been playing really well.

Jack: And Mohamed Salah got his 100th goal for Liverpool.

Rich: Yes, brilliant. Salah missed a couple of chances in this game but to reach one hundred Premier League goals for Liverpool is a great achievement and he’s done it faster than any Liverpool player ever.

Jack: Let’s look at some language. The Brentford-Liverpool match finished in a draw but in the headline, Rich said the match finished all-square.

Rich: ‘All square’ is a general phrase for a draw. The match finished all-square means the match finished in a draw. It could be 0-0, 1-1 any type of draw.

Jack: So ... all-square means level. It’s quite informal and is normally only used in spoken English. We use it most commonly to talk about money. Say, for example, you lent me £20 last week and now I’m giving it back to you. I might say ‘here’s that £20 I owe you - we’re all square, right?’

Rich: So, ‘all square’ is used to say we’re level - here with money. I don’t owe you anything and you don’t owe me anything - we’re all square.

Jack: The next bit of language I’d like to look at from the roleplay is an idiom and it’s to be caught napping.

Rich: To be caught napping means to be surprised by an opponent often when you are not prepared. You are still half-asleep. You are napping - a nap is a short sleep.

Rich: It’s often used when a team score at the beginning of a half or the beginning of a match or when a team is overconfident in their defensive play.

Jack: Liverpool were surprised by Brentford’s quality - not once but three times.

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

Headline 3

Rich: Jesus puts City on the right path.

Jack: Manchester City came out on top in the clash between the Premier League Champions and Chelsea - the Champions of Europe. City dominated the match and deservedly took the lead when Gabriel Jesus scored from close range.

Rich: The result of this one made it look a lot closer than it actually was. City controlled the match from start to finish - I was quite surprised how easy it was for them.

Jack: Yeah, especially because Chelsea had been playing so well so far this season. Romelu Lukaku didn’t get a sniff.

Rich: Hopefully our listeners will remember that phrase from last week. Let’s look at some more language.

Jack: I want to start with the word clash. I said Manchester City came out on top in the clash between the Premier League Champions and Chelsea - the Champions of Europe. 

Rich: This is a common word in football that is basically used to mean match or fixture - a meeting between two teams.

Jack: More generally the word clash is used to describe a fight or disagreement between two people or two groups of people. It can be a noun or a verb.

Rich: You might hear on the news that clashes broke out between two different groups or two politicians might clash about environmental issues in a television discussion. 

Jack: The second phrase I want to look at from the headline is close range. We often hear about a player scoring from close range or missing from close range.

Rich: Close-range means at or from a short distance. It’s used in sports and when using guns. You might hear in the newspaper about a man being shot at close range. 

Jack: In the headline, I said that Gabriel Jesus scored from close range. He was close to the goal when he took the shot.

Rich: We also use the opposite. A player might shoot from long range which is far away from goal - outside the penalty area.

Jack: OK, we’ve looked at quite a lot of language. Have a listen to the headlines again and maybe look at the transcript on the Premier Skills English website at the same time. Can you hear the vocabulary we’ve been talking about?

Headlines - Repeat

Rich: Gunners blow Spurs away.

Jack: A stunning first-half performance from Arsenal gave the hosts all three points in the North London Derby. Goals from Emile Smith-Rowe, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Bukayo Saka put Arsenal in the driving seat and despite a consolation goal from Son Heung-min, Tottenham never looked like getting back into it.

Jack: Buzzing Bees hold Reds.

Rich: Brentford and Liverpool finished all square after a three-all thriller in West London. The Bees took a surprise lead through Ethan Pinnock, but Liverpool came back to lead 2-1 and 3-2. However, the Reds were caught napping on more than one occasion and Yoane Wissa chipped the ball over Allison to grab a point for the home side.

Rich: Jesus puts City on the right path.

Jack: Manchester City came out on top in the clash between the Premier League Champions and Chelsea - the Champions of Europe. City dominated the match and deservedly took the lead when Gabriel Jesus scored from close range.

TASK - Language Challenge

Rich: Right, now we’re going to give you a chance to think about the language again. 

Jack: We’re going to give you six sentences with gaps in them and you have to complete the gaps with the words and phrases we’ve spoken about in this podcast. 

Rich: Those early goals from Arsenal put them right in the driving _______.

Jack: The equaliser from Yoane Wissa made the match ______ once again.

Rich: Gabriel Jesus scored from ___________.

Jack: Tottenham and Arsenal played in the North London _____.

Rich: Liverpool were __________ in defence against Brentford.

Jack: Manchester City against Chelsea was a top of the table ______.

Rich: Leave your answers in the comments section on the Premier Skills English website.

Player of the week

Jack: Rich - I think it’s time to tell everyone who we’ve chosen as our Player of the Week. 

Rich: Lots of great individual displays this week - Mohamed Salah got his 100th goal for Liverpool and Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka was brilliant in the North London derby.

Jack: But we’re going with an Aston Villa player this week after Villa won 1-0 at Old Trafford. Our Player of the Week is Aston Villa defender Kortney Hause. 

Rich: The defender helped his team keep a clean sheet against United and got the winning goal. A great performance.

Jack: So Aston Villa’s Kortney Hause is our Player of the Week. Tell us what you think about our choice and who you think should be player of the week on the Premier Skills English website.

Football Phrase 

Rich: OK, it’s time for our football phrase. If you’ve not listened to the podcast before, every week we set our listeners a challenge. We explain a football phrase or word and you have to guess what it is.

Jack: When you know the answer, go to the podcast page on the Premier Skills English website or the review section on Apple Podcasts and write the word or phrase in the comments. If you’re correct we’ll announce your name on next week’s podcast. So what is this week’s football phrase, Rich?

Rich:  This week’s football phrase is **** *****. This phrase describes a player who is not bound by a contract and so can join any team at any time. Clubs often sign **** ****** on short-term deals outside of the transfer window.

Jack: If you have a football phrase that you would like us to use in the podcast, just get in touch and let us know.

Rich: Right, that’s all we have time for but we will be back later this week on Apple Podcasts and Spotify with the Premier Skills English podcast.

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

Rich: Bye for now and enjoy your football.