Matchweek 16: Local Rivals

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: Coming up later this week, we’ll have a new podcast for you. On Thursday, we’re going to publish a new podcast: Learning Vocabulary: Shopping for bargains

Jack: Last week we asked you if you wanted to appear in our podcast. We asked you three questions about the podcast topic and asked you to contact us with your answers. The topic was superlatives.

Rich: We spoke to Karin from Indonesia, Walter from Argentina and Salamao from Brazil and all three spoke to us about Premier League teams in their country and who they think is the best ever footballer.

Jack: You can listen to Karin, Walter and Salamao in our latest podcast about superlatives. It’s on the Premier Skills English homepage now.

Rich: This week we want to do the same thing. We are going to ask you three questions and we want you to contact us by email with your answers and contact information so we can call you.

Jack: Send us an email to premierskills@britishcouncil.org

Rich: The questions are all connected to this week’s podcast: Learning Vocabulary: Shopping for bargains. Here are the three questions:

Jack: Question 1: Have you ever bought a Premier League football shirt?
Rich: Question 2: What’s the best bargain you’ve ever bought?
Jack: Question 3: Where’s the best place to go shopping in your town or city?

Rich: Send us an email with your answers and we’ll get in touch to talk to you tomorrow or on Wednesday so we can get you into the Podcast on Thursday.

Jack: The email address again is: premierskills@britishcouncil.org.

Rich: Let’s get on with our round-up of Matchweek sixteen with our headlines.

Headlines

Jack: Derby shock for City.

Rich: Manchester United stunned Manchester City with a 2-1 win at the Etihad Stadium. United dented City’s title hopes with a blistering start. Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial got early goals to set United on their way. City pulled a goal back with five minutes to go but United survived to beat their local rivals.

Jack: Leicester win eight on the bounce.

Rich: Leicester City made it eight wins in a row, and a club record, with a 4-1 demolition of Aston Villa. Jamie Vardy, the Premier League’s top scorer, got two and Kelechi Ihanacho and Jonny Evans got the others. The Foxes are now the main challengers to Liverpool and sit second, eight points behind the Reds.

Jack: High five for Spurs.

Rich: Tottenham smashed five past a sorry Burnley side in a match that will be remembered for Heung-min Son’s brilliant individual goal. Son sprinted from his own box to Burnley’s with no one getting near him before slotting the ball home. Harry Kane grabbed another couple and Lucas Moura and Moussa Sissoko also got on the scoresheet.

Jack: It was a brilliant goal. A goal of the season contender for sure.

Rich: There were also good wins for Liverpool, Everton, Newcastle and Sheffield United.

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 pull a goal back, local rivals, a demolition, the main challengers, to sprint and the scoresheet.

Jack: Let’s start with the phrases we used to talk about the Manchester Derby. We said United survived to beat their local rivals.

Rich: Your rival is the person or team you are competing against. On the pitch, the opposition team are your rivals.

Jack: Local means something that is close to a specific place or location. You might walk to your local shop or you might go to your local school.

Rich: Manchester United and City are local rivals. 

Jack: The next phrase is to pull a goal back. We said that City pulled a goal back with five minutes to go.

Rich: This means to score a goal when losing by two or more goals scores. The team that scores are still losing but have a chance to get back into the match.

Jack: Let’s talk about the Aston Villa - Leicester match. We said that Leicester made it eight wins in a row with a 4-1 demolition of Aston Villa.

Rich: A demolition usually describes the destruction of a building but is often used to describe less literal things.

Jack: Aston Villa’s defence was destroyed by Leicester’s attack. It was a complete demolition.

Rich: We said Leicester are now the main challengers to Liverpool in the Premier League.

Jack: A challenger is similar to the word rival we looked at earlier. It describes someone who competes against someone else. The main challenger is the person or team that is closest to the leader and is most likely to beat them.

Rich: Finally, let’s look at the Tottenham Burnley match. We said that Heung-min Son sprinted from one box to the other.

Jack: To sprint means to run very fast over a short distance. In the Olympics you have the one hundred metre sprint. Usain Bolt is an amazing sprinter.

Rich: Our last bit of vocabulary this week is the scoresheet. I think maybe in the past the referee had a bit of paper to write down the score of the match and who scored.

Jack: Maybe the referee still writes everything down in that book he carries around. I’ve never seen what’s inside. In regular use, the scoresheet is the official record of players that scored goals in a match.

Rich: Anyway, we use the word scoresheet in the phrase to get on the scoresheet or to get your name on the scoresheet which is an idiom that means to score a goal.

Jack: Harry Kane got his name on the scoresheet against Burnley. Twice.

Rich: OK, so there are our six words and phrases. Listen to this part of the podcast again if you are not sure how to use them.

Jack: The words and phrases are: to pull a goal back, local rivals, a demolition, the main challengers, to sprint and the scoresheet.

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. Jamie Vardy was fantastic for Leicester and I think Tottenham’s Heung-min Son will be winning one of our other awards.

Jack: But, our Player of the Week is Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford. He’s now got 13 goals this season - more than any other season and it’s only December.

Rich: Now Team of the Week. A fantastic win for Manchester United, Tottenham were brilliant against Burnley and Everton got a much-needed win against Chelsea.

Jack: But our Team of the Week is Leicester City. The Foxes have never before won eight consecutive matches not even when they won the Premier League.

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: Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain for Liverpool against Bournemouth. A brilliant pass from Jordan Henderson and a first time finish from Chamberlain.

Rich: Goal number two: Son Heung-Min for Spurs versus Burnley. A brilliant individual goal. Is it the goal of the season nevermind goal of the week?

Jack: Goal number three: Diogo Jota for Wolves v Brighton. A great team goal. A one-two with Raul Jimenez and Jota slots the ball home.

Rich: OK. Those are our three options. Did you see them? Which do you think was the best? 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. It’s matchweek 17 this weekend. Which match are you going to speak about Rich?

Rich: I’m going to look at your team Jack - Arsenal. The Gunners are in a bit of disarray at the moment. They have lost their manager and, as I speak, they are down in the bottom half of the table. They really need a result against City who will also be looking to bounce back after defeat against their local rivals in the Manchester Derby. Another defeat for City would mean a crisis at the Etihad and I think they will avoid that. Final score: Arsenal 1-2 Manchester City.

Jack: I think we’ll get a surprise win for our new manager whoever that may be.

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: And remember to answer the questions we gave you at the start of the show and get in contact with us now at premierskills@britishcouncil.org if you want to appear in this week’s podcast.

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

Jack: Bye for now and enjoy your football.