Matchweek 19 & 20: In charge

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.

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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 all about Christmas and you can find it on the Premier Skills English homepage, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and most other podcast platforms now. 

Rich: The festive fixtures have been coming thick and fast so let’s get on with our round-up of Matchweeks nineteen and twenty with our headlines.

Headlines

Jack: Liverpool march on towards first Premier League title.

Rich: Liverpool secured maximum points over the Christmas holidays as they overpowered Leicester - the Red’s closest title challengers - and produced a hard-fought 1-0 win against Wolves. Liverpool have tightened their grip on the title race and now lead by a massive thirteen points.

Jack: Wolves shock City in comeback win.

Rich: Manchester City lost ground in the title race when they were beaten 3-2 at Wolverhampton Wanderers. It looked bad for City when goalkeeper, Ederson was sent off after only twelve minutes but it didn’t stop Raheem Sterling scoring twice to give City a 2-0 lead. However, Wolves hit back through Adama Traore, Raul Jimenez and Matt Doherty to give Wolves a 3-2 win in an amazing match.

Jack: Changes at the top as clubs look to improve.

Rich: Mikel Arteta’s first two games in charge of Arsenal ended in defeat at home to Chelsea and an away draw at Bournemouth. Carlo Ancelotti has taken less time in getting his message across in the hot seat at Everton. Ancelotti’s Everton won both their games over the Christmas holidays. It will now be David Moyes’ turn to see what he can do after he took over from Manuel Pelligrini at West Ham over the holidays.

Jack: There were some great games over the holidays but that Wolves - Man City game. That was one of the best!

Rich: I agree but that Liverpool performance away at Leicester was one of the best I’ve seen in the Premier League.

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 overpower someone or something, to tighten your grip on something, to lose ground, to hit back, to be in charge and to be in the hot seat.

Jack: Let’s start with the phrases we used to talk about Liverpool’s wins over the holidays. 

Rich: We said that Liverpool overpowered Leicester. In football or sports in general, it means to beat or defeat another team because one team is much stronger. The word is often used in connection with physical strength.

Jack: Yes, we hear the word more generally too. We might read in a newspaper that the police had to overpower the criminal. This might mean they had to use their physical strength to pull him to the ground.

Rich: Liverpool have increased their lead at the top of the Premier League. We said they have tightened their grip on the title race.

Jack: To tighten your grip on something is a phrase that is used to say that something is being controlled even more than before. Liverpool have even more control over the title race now - they have tightened their grip on the title race.

Rich: These two words are useful to know more generally. To grip something means to hold something strongly in our hands. We grip onto the metal bar of a rollercoaster or someone’s hand when we are scared.

Jack: How can we explain tighten?

Rich: I ate too much during the holidays and now my trousers are too tight!

Jack: Haha! Oh, dear. Yes, so the adjective tight can describe clothes that fit very closely or too closely to your body. 

Rich: Imagine holding onto someone’s hand because you are scared. You hold tight. You have a tight grip. Then if something happens that frightens you more, you might tighten your grip. 

Jack: OK, let’s move on to the phrases we used to talk about the Wolves - Manchester City match. We said that City have lost ground in the title race. 

Rich: To lose ground means to fall behind in a competition of some kind. City were only 10 points behind Liverpool but now they are 14 points behind. They have lost ground on Liverpool or lost ground in the title race.
Jack: We said that Wolves hit back in their game against Manchester City. This is a phrasal verb which means to respond to an attack. 

Rich: We can think about it in a very literal way. Someone hits you and you hit them back like n boxing. 

Jack: This is similar in other sports. City scored twice but Wolves hit back with three goals.

Rich: We can also use it more generally. For example, the director hit back at the bad reviews of the film.

Jack: So, we can also hit back verbally as well as with physical actions.

Rich: Finally, let’s talk about a couple of phrases we used to talk about the recent managerial changes in the Premier League.

Jack: We said that Mikel Arteta is now in charge at Arsenal.

Rich: To be in charge means to be in control or to have responsibility for something. 

Jack: Arteta has responsibility for the team at Arsenal. He’s now in charge - he’s the boss.

Rich: We can also use it to describe smaller responsibilities. At work, you might be in charge of recruitment, admin or deliveries.

Jack: In a match, you can say a team are in charge of the game. This means they are in control of the game.

Rich: Right, our final phrase is one we used as our football phrase in our podcast a couple of weeks ago. It’s to be in the hot seat. We said Carlo Ancelotti is in the hot seat at Everton.

Jack: This phrase is used to describe the manager’s position at a club. It’s described as a hot seat as often it’s not very comfortable, especially when a team loses.

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 overpower someone or something, to tighten your grip on something, to lose ground, to hit back, to be in charge and to be in the hot seat.

Football Awards

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

Jack: 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. We’re looking at Mathweeks nineteen and twenty.

Jack: Let’s start with Player of the Week. Alexander Arnold has been brilliant for Liverpool over the holidays as has Anthony Martial at Manchester United.

Rich: But our Player of the Christmas holidays is Everton’s Dominic Calvert-Lewin. Everton got two wins and scored three goals over the holidays all scored by Calvert-Lewin. A great start for Carlo Ancelotti who is now in the hot seat at Everton. 

Jack: Now Team of the Week. A shout out to Wolves for their great win against City and bad luck against Liverpool and to Watford who got four points over Christmas and are off the bottom of the table.

Rich: But there were only three teams who got two wins out of two over Christmas, Manchester United, Everton and our Team of the Week … Liverpool.

Jack: 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.

Rich: Goal number one: Jordan Ayew for Crystal Palace against West Ham. The Ghanaian international dribbled past defenders like they weren’t there and then chipped the keeper. Brilliant!

Jack: Goal number two: Trent Alexander-Arnold for Liverpool versus Leicester. A fantastic display from the full-back who got the fourth goal with a thumping finish.

Rich: Goal number three: Matt Doherty for Wolves v Manchester City. A winner from just outside the box that will be remembered for a long time by all Wolves fans.

Jack: 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.

Rich: Last week I predicted a Liverpool win against Leicester and I got it right.

Jack: I thought they’d be a surprise but Liverpool were too good. Which match are you going to look at this week?

Rich: Matchweek 21 is on New Year’s Day but to give you a chance to make a prediction I’m going to look at this weekend’s FA Cup.

Jack: It’s the third round. This is where Premier League teams enter the competition and everyone hopes for a shock or two where underdogs form the lower leagues can beat the Premier League giants. Do you think there will be any shocks?

Rich: West Ham are away to league one Gillingham and Spurs are away to Middlesbrough from the Championship. They could be cupsets and I’m going to focus on another possible surprise. Arsenal host Leeds United. Mikel Arteta is looking for his first win in charge of Arsenal while Leeds are flying high at the top of the Championship. If Arsenal make too many changes to their first team there might be a shock at the Emirates. Leeds play high quality attacking football under their manager, Marcelo Bielsa and are hoping to be in the Premier League next season. Final score: Arsenal 1-2 Leeds United.

Jack: No cupset here. Arsenal to win 1-0.

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: Bye for now and enjoy your football.