Matchweek 27

Introduction  

Rich: Hello my name’s Rich and welcome to our Monday round-up section on Premier Skills English.  

Jack: Hi there. I’m Jack. Every Monday we discuss last weekend’s action, the best players, the best matches, Fantasy Football, and make some predictions for next weekend.

Rich: We want you to practise your English and interact with Premier League fans from around the world in our comments section.

Jack: You can do this on the Premier Skills English website or the Premier Skills-British Council Facebook page - if that’s where you are listening to us.

Rich: There were some brilliant matches in Matchweek 27 so let’s get on with this week’s round-up!

Headlines

Rich: Tottenham take the honours in North London.

Jack: Spurs won the North London Derby by one goal to nil and it was, of course, that man Harry Kane who got the winner. Tottenham could have won by more but Arsenal’s Petr Cech was in good form between the sticks. Arsenal’s best chances to equalise arrived in the final few minutes but Alexandre Lacazette shot wide.

Rich: United stumble as Newcastle win at home at last.

Jack: Newcastle got their first home win since October as they surprised second-place Manchester Utd. Matt Ritchie got the goal and despite creating lots of chances United couldn’t find the final touch. After the match, Jose Mourinho said the team could have played for 10 hours and wouldn’t have found the back of the net!

Rich: Nobody Kun stop City!

Jack: Manchester City hammered Leicester City 5-1 to move 16 points clear at the top of the table. Kevin De Bruyne was once again in sensational form providing three assists. But it was Sergio Kun Aguero who scored four times that people were talking about after the match. It’s the third time he’s scored four or more goals in the Premier League - the only player to ever do this in the Premier League.

Rich: Some great matches there. What about that win for Spurs? Did they deserve to win?

Jack: If I’m being honest Arsenal didn’t deserve anything but at the end we could have equalised and I’d have been very happy with a point.

Rich: And what about Sergio Aguero at City? Four goals for the third time and he’s in the race to win the golden boot again this season.

Jack: He’s catching Harry Kane and Mo Salah. If he stays injury free, I wouldn’t bet against him finishing the season as the Premier League’s top scorer.

Definition Alert! 

Rich: Manchester City hammered Leicester City. Hammered? What does this phrase mean?

Jack: A hammer is a tool we use to hit nails into walls and wood. A hammer is made of a wooden stick with a large piece of metal at one end.

Rich: And the verb is the action of using the hammer - hitting or beating something very hard into something else.

Jack: That’s right and it has a similar meaning in sport. It means for one team to beat another very badly in terms of the scoreline. Manchester City hammered Leicester City 5-1.

Rich: There are lots of words that we can use in this way. Man City hammered Leicester 5-1 or they crushed Leicester 5-1 or thrashed Leicester.

Jack: Let us know if you can think of any other words you can use that have a similar meaning.

Activity week introduction

Rich: Today is the first day of our new Activity week and this week we’re talking about Dilemmas. 

Jack: All the content this week - the facebook live, the blog, the podcast and the language activities are all focused on the language we use when we discuss problems and dilemmas.

Rich: What is a dilemma?

Jack: Good question. It’s a problem, but there’s more to it than that. It’s a difficult choice that has no clear best answer.

Rich: Like, if you are deciding where to go on holiday. You might want to go somewhere with a beach to relax or you might want to go to a city and soak up some culture. 

Jack: That’s a nice dilemma to have. 

Rich: More often, we talk about dilemmas when the decision is more difficult. For example, if you have to move house. There might be advantages and disadvantages about the different places you could move to and you have to decide. 

Jack: Referees face dilemmas in every match. The decisions they make are often complicated and there’s a lot of pressure from the crowd. 

Rich: Especially penalty decisions when it’s a big match.

Jack: For example, if a player goes down in the box, but the referee can’t tell if it’s a foul or a dive and the players and crowd are screaming for a penalty. The referee has to make a decision and it can’t be easy with that sort of pressure.

Rich: We’ve got lots of other dilemmas for you to think about throughout the activity week. Hit the live tab on the website at the top of the page to sign up.

Matchweek Awards

Rich: Right, every Monday, we give out three matchweek awards. Player of the Week, Team of the Week and Match of the Week.

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

Rich: These awards always create a lot of discussion. Lots of you agreed with our choices last week which is great to see!

Jack: But not all of you! For example Bray1portero from Spain and Davidbin from Vietnam thought that Burnley and not Brighton should have been team of the week.

Rich: And Alex and Liubomyr from Ukraine thought it should have been Bournemouth.

Jack: Let’s see who agrees and disagrees with our choices this week. Write your opinions on our facebook page or on the website.

Rich: Let’s start with our Player of the Week. There were some great individual performances in the Premier League last week.

Jack: Kevin De Bruyne was brilliant for City, Newcastle’s goalkeeper Martin Dubravka was fantastic as he kept a clean sheet on his debut and Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino looked great up front for Liverpool.

Rich: But our choice was an easy one this week. Our player of the week is Manchester City’s … Sergio Aguero.

Jack: Four goals. Just brilliant. Did you know that he’s never won a Player of the Year award while in the Premier League?

Rich: No, I didn’t. He’s got to have a chance of winning something this year. Right our next award is for Team of the Week. There were good wins for Man City, Spurs, Liverpool, West Ham, Swansea and Everton but our Team of the Week is Newcastle Utd.

Jack: A great win for Newcastle. It’s always good to see the underdog win!

Rich: Unless you are supporting the other team. It was a great win for Newcastle and it takes them out of the bottom three. It’s a real dogfight down at the bottom of the table.

Jack: Just five points separate 10 clubs - very close. Finally, what about Match of the Week?

Rich: I think we have to choose Manchester City against Leicester City. I know it was one-sided but some of the football that City are playing at the moment is simply amazing.

Fantasy Football

Rich: What’s been happening in Fantasy Football this week, Jack?

Jack: The top scoring player in matchweek 27 was unsurprisingly Sergio Aguero with 21 points.

Rich: I’m sure many of you had him in your teams. The Premier Skills team has got him and  De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling in the team. 

Jack: Good picks. Where is the Premier Skills team in the Premier Skills Fantasy football league?

Rich: We’re up to seventh place. Pretty good. Who was the team of the week last week?

Jack: Our Fantasy Football Premier Skills Team of the Week is Ghigo Team managed by Fabio Ghiorzo, a Liverpool fan from Italy.

Rich: Well done Fabio!

Matchweek Prediction

Jack: Rich - your prediction for matchweek 27 was for Spurs to beat Arsenal. Well done, you got it right.

Rich: You don’t sound very happy.

Jack: That’s because I’m not. I was hoping that your bad predictions would continue a little longer.

Rich: Sorry about that.

Jack: What’s your prediction this week?

Rich: There are FA Cup matches this weekend so my prediction is for matchweek 28 in the Premier League and it will be played on the 24th and 25th of February.

Jack: So everybody has nearly two weeks to make their predictions on the website. Let’s get as many predictions as possible. Last week some of you predicted a Spurs win. 

Rich: Well done to Davidbin from Vietnam, Rafamigliten from Brazil, and Toha 23 from Ukraine who all predicted a win for Tottenham.

Jack: So, what is your prediction for matchweek 28?

Rich: My prediction is the match between Manchester Utd and Chelsea. This is always a very interesting match especially with Jose Mourinho up against his old club and ex-Chelsea players like Nemanja Matic, Juan Mata and Romelu Lukaku in the United team. Chelsea are not playing well at the moment but United are struggling to score goals so it could be a close match. However, I think Mourinho will have his players ready for this match and will really want to win. Chelsea always have a chance with Eden Hazard in their team but I think United will finish on top in this one. Final score: Manchester Utd 2-1 Chelsea.

Jack: I think I’m going to agree with you Rich. Just for a change! We want you to make your prediction at the bottom of the page. Are you a good predictor? 

Rich: Right, that’s all we have time for. I hope you have enjoyed this football round-up. 

Jack: Don’t forget to join the discussion at the bottom of the page. And if you’ve enjoyed this podcast why not leave a rating or review and that will help other people find us. 

Rich: Bye for now and enjoy your football.