This Week: The icing on the cake

Hello my name’s Jack and welcome to the weekly round-up called This Week on Premier Skills English.

In This Week, we’ve got lots of interesting words and phrases to help you talk about football in English.

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.

This week, I’ve got three stories for you. The first is from West Ham who hosted Nottingham Forest, the second is about Wolverhampton Wanderers’ trip to Fulham and the third is about Spurs who welcomed Chelsea.

The words and phrases from the stories that I’m going to talk about this week are: the icing on the cake, to take advantage of, to break the deadlock, high flying, to be left short, to pick up an injury, to wrap up the win, assemble and talent.

But before I get to this week’s stories, I want to give you the answer to last week’s football phrase. If you didn’t hear it last week, here’s one more chance to guess now.

Last week’s football phrase was to **** the ball. This is a verb that means a way to kick the ball. If you **** the ball, you strike the ball low so that it rises quickly into the air. This is not a powerful kick, it’s a controlled move that you can use to move the ball over another player or the keeper.

It was a good one last week and proved to be a bit of a challenge. Congratulations to Vietnguyenngo from Vietnam, Denis2000 from Belarus, Shikabala from Egypt, Hasan from Turkey, Ryohei from Japan; welcome to Premier Skills English Ryohei. Congratulations to Cezario Abrantes from Brazil, Pouyasharifi from Belgium - another first time commenter, welcome to the podcast and congratulations to Chen Meng Tso from Taiwan.

You all managed to work out that the word, the verb I was looking for was to chip.

I was a little disappointed not to have heard more about the things you have all mastered to perfection. Well done to Cezario for having become a QlikSense master and to Hasan for your power in negotiations and thank you Ryohei, I think it’s great to want to polish your English to perfection.

There will be a new football phrase and task for you to complete after the stories and vocabulary.

Now it’s time for this week’s first story. When you listen, I’d like you to try to answer the following question:

Who provided the assist for the goal that broke the deadlock?

Antonio puts the icing on the cake

David Moyes was criticised by fans and pundits last week after West Ham’s performance at Spurs. He knew he had to make changes before Nottingham Forest’s visit and swapped out four players and changed formation. But would these changes work for the Hammers?

In the first hour of the match, West Ham looked great. Jarrod Bowen was having a brilliant match, but West Ham hadn’t been able to take advantage of their dominance.

It wasn’t until the 71st minute that the home team broke the deadlock when Bowen fired in a lovely cross. Danny Ings had started his run a split second early so had to reach back to get a foot to the ball and guide it into the net.

Just two minutes later, still pumped with excitement at having broken the deadlock, Ings made the win safe when he scored again. And five minutes later, Declan Rice sealed the win with a gloriously placed shot from outside the area.

The atmosphere in the stadium was giddy as the home fans had watched the change in their team. When Michail Antonio headed home, it was the icing on the cake.

Final score: West Ham United 4 - Nottingham Forest 0

Before the story, I asked you:

Who provided the assist for the goal that broke the deadlock?

The answer is: Jarrod Bowen. Danny Ings got the goal but Bowen set the goal up with a lovely cross.

The phrases from the story that I want to talk about are: the icing on the cake, to take advantage of and to break the deadlock.

We use the idiom ‘the icing on the cake’ to talk about something good that happens to someone who is already in a very good position or for something that someone receives when they have already received something amazing. The idea is that a cake is a nice thing to have. Everybody loves cake. Icing is the super sweet covering that bakers put on top of a cake to decorate it and make it even sweeter. If you put icing on a cake, you are adding something sweet to something that is already really sweet. West Ham were three goals up so they were already in a great place. When Antonio scored a fourth, it was still really sweet, but it was the icing on the cake because they were already in a great position.

We’ve spoken about the phrase to take advantage of something before, but it’s a really useful phrase. It means to use the good things in a situation. So if you get the chance to stay in a nice hotel that has a good gym and spa, you should take advantage of the facilities while you are staying there. I said that West Ham weren’t able to take advantage of their dominance. So when a team is dominant, they can control the play and move the ball around the pitch. Normally, a dominant team will take advantage by scoring goals. West Ham were dominant, but were failing to take advantage of their dominance.

The third phrase from this story is another one that we have covered in the past, but I think it’s a good one and common in match reports. The phrase I used is to break the deadlock. A deadlock is a very secure type of lock for a door. The phrase is also used to describe a situation where people competing, perhaps athletes or teams of negotiators are not able to make any progress. So in sports, a deadlock occurs when two teams are able to cancel out each other’s attacks and in negotiations, it’s when neither side is prepared to make any compromise and the discussions break down. When this situation happens for a period of time, we say that there is a deadlock and when a team manages to score, you can say that they broke the deadlock.

Now it’s time for this week’s second story. When you listen, I’d like you to try to answer the following question:

What’s happened to Fulham’s top scorer?

Super sub Solomon cannot stop scoring

Wolves travelled down to London to Craven Cottage to face high-flying Fulham. The London side are enjoying their most successful season in the Premier League having only been promoted after winning the Championship at the end of last season. Fulham are sixth in the league and are chasing European qualification while Wolves are running from relegation at the other end of the table.

Wolves showed no sign of fear or lack of belief once the match was underway with Pablo Sarabia causing problems for the hosts from the start. Sarabia soon fired his side in front with his first goal for Wolves. The shot was brilliantly taken; Raúl Jiménez headed the ball down to Sarabia who nudged it up for himself and then fizzed it low and beyond Bernd Leno.

Fulham tried to strike back, but their top scorer Aleksandar Mitrovic has been sidelined by a hamstring injury leaving them short at the front.

Fortunately, they had super sub Solomon on the bench. Manor Solomon has had his own misfortunes having picked up a knee injury in his first game for the club back in August. Fulham’s manager Marco Silva has said Solomon is not ready for 90 minutes of Premier League football yet, but has brought him on from the bench in the last three games. When

Solomon drove the ball into the goal with a right-footed shot from outside the box, he made it three goals in three games.

Final score: Fulham 1 - Wolverhampton Wanderers 1

Before the story, I asked you:

What’s happened to Fulham’s top scorer?

The answer is: Aleksander Mitrovic, Fulham’s top scorer has a hamstring injury so he has been sidelined.

The phrases from the story that I want to talk about are: high flying, to be left short and to pick up an injury.

The adjective high-flying means very successful. You often hear about high-flying business people. In the past, the term high-flyer was related to the Greek myth of Icarus who built himself some wings and then flew too close to the sun which melted his wings - so being a high-flyer didn’t really work out for him. But these days, we have forgotten Icarus and being a high-flyer means being successful. Fulham are having their best season in years ... possibly ever and TV commentators cant resist describing the team as high-flying fulham because everyone loves alliteration, that’s where two or more words start with the same letter or assonance, where two or more words start with the same sound.

To be left short means to not have enough of something that you need. I think the term comes from the noun shortage. If you have a shortage of something, you don’t have enough of something. So at the moment in the UK, there is a shortage of tomatoes. Supermarkets do not have enough tomatoes so they are limiting the number of tomatoes that customers can buy. You could also say that supermarkets are short of tomatoes and that the erm ... problems with supply have left the supermarkets short. Here’s another example: as a normal English man, I need a regular supply of tea. If my neighbour knocks on my door and asks to borrow some tea bags, they might ask: Do you have enough? I don’t want to leave you short. They don’t want me to not have enough to meet my tea drinking needs. In the story, I said that Mitrovic’s hamstring injury has left Fulham short at the front. They don’t have as much skill in their attacking line up as they need because Mitrovic is not available.

Fortunately, they had super sub Solomon on the bench. Another irresistible piece of alliteration. However, super sub Solomon is not available for the full 90 because he picked up a knee injury back in August. To pick up an injury is a slightly strange phrase. It means to be injured, but it is an active phrase so it’s something that Solomon did. I think we normally use it for minor injuries. You might pick up a sprain or some slight damage. I think it’s quite common to pick up a cold or a minor virus. If you suffer from something more serious, for example, if you break your arm, you wouldn’t say you picked up a broken arm, unless you were trying to be funny.

Now it’s time for this week’s third story. When you listen, I’d like you to try to answer the following question:

Who scored first for Spurs?

Harry Kane wraps up the win for Tottenham

When Graham Potter took over at Chelsea, it was not going to be easy. His predecessor Thomas Tuchel was a perfectionist whose methods and tactics had brought success on the pitch but had upset his players and the club management. Since Potter took over, he’s overseen the assembly of the most expensive squad in the Premier League. But as Potter admitted at the weekend, Chelsea are suffering.

Chelsea’s starting 11 had six changes from their last outing. Potter is still trying to find the right combination and shape to take advantage of the talent in his squad. But this configuration was not it and they did little to open up Spurs’ defence.

As Tottenham got the measure of this version of Chelsea, they started pressing harder and minutes after the second half started, Oliver Skipp scored with a powerful strike from outside the area. Chelsea’s Enzo Fernandez took the ball from his own keeper and then tried to clear it, but his clearance landed in the path of Skipp who thumped the ball to score his first ever goal for Spurs.

Chelsea never looked like they might equalise. Potter made changes throughout the half, but nothing seemed to make the difference they needed.

When Son Heung-min curled the ball towards the goal from a corner kick, Eric Dier headed the ball down and Harry Kane tapped it into the net, wrapping up the win for Spurs.

Final score: Tottenham Hotspur 2 - Chelsea 0

Before the story, I asked you:

Who scored first for Spurs?

The answer is: Oliver Skipp who scored his first ever Spurs goal.

The words and phrase from this story that I want to talk about are: to wrap up the win, assemble and talent.

If you wrap something up, you complete it. The verb to wrap normally means to completely cover something in paper. So before you give someone a present, you might wrap it up in colourful paper called wrapping paper. If you buy traditional fish and chips in the UK, when the people in the shop are preparing your order they will ask you: open or wrapped? If you choose wrapped, your fish and chips will come packed in paper. Once something is wrapped up, it’s ready to go, it’s completed. When Harry Kane scored Spurs’ second goal near the end of the match, it wrapped up the win, it completed the win.

The verb to assemble means to build or put together. If you have ever bought furniture from Ikea, you will have had to assemble it yourself. To assemble means to construct or build out of parts that already exist so it’s not exactly the same as build. The noun form is assembly. In the story, I said that Potter had overseen the assembly of the most expensive squad in the premier League. The Chelsea squad was assembled, that is put together, from players from all over the world at a cost of nearly £900m, at least according to one report I found online. Two more uses that you may come across. In schools in the UK, when all the children are gathered together to listen to the head teacher, that’s called an assembly and the last use you may have heard was in the Marvel Avengers movie when Captain America brings the team of superheroes together, he says ‘Avengers Assemble’ - it’s a terrible line.

The last word I want to talk about today is talent. This is quite a common noun when talking about professional athletes. A talent is a natural ability to be good at something. To become a Premier League footballer, you have to work really hard and you also need to be really talented. The standard is so high that you need to have a natural ability. You also hear about people having a musical talent. My son is musically talented, he is learning to play the piano and it is easier for him to learn because he is talented. We also use the noun to talk about performers. If you are making a video, the actors are the talent. In the story, I spoke about the talent in the Chelsea squad. This combines those uses. I was talking about the natural ability of the players and also about the players more generally.

OK, that's 9 words and phrases from the stories today. The words and phrases were:the icing on the cake, to take advantage of, to break the deadlock, high flying, to be left short, to pick up an injury, to wrap up the win, assemble and talent.

Listen to the stories one more time to hear the words and phrases in context.

Antonio puts the icing on the cake

David Moyes was criticised by fans and pundits last week after West Ham’s performance at Spurs. He knew he had to make changes before Nottingham Forest’s visit and swapped out four players and changed formation. But would these changes work for the Hammers?

In the first hour of the match, West Ham looked great. Jarrod Bowen was having a brilliant match, but West Ham hadn’t been able to take advantage of their dominance.

It wasn’t until the 71st minute that the home team broke the deadlock when Bowen fired in a lovely cross. Danny Ings had started his run a split second early so had to reach back to get a foot to the ball and guide it into the net.

Just two minutes later, still pumped with excitement at having broken the deadlock, Ings made the win safe when he scored again. And five minutes later, Declan Rice sealed the win with a gloriously placed shot from outside the area.

The atmosphere in the stadium was giddy as the home fans had watched the change in their team. When Michail Antonio headed home, it was the icing on the cake.

Final score: West Ham United 4 - Nottingham Forest 0

Super sub Solomon cannot stop scoring

Wolves travelled down to London to Craven Cottage to face high-flying Fulham. The London side are enjoying their most successful season in the Premier League having only been promoted after winning the Championship at the end of last season. Fulham are sixth in the league and are chasing European qualification while Wolves are running from relegation at the other end of the table.

Wolves showed no sign of fear or lack of belief once the match was underway with Pablo Sarabia causing problems for the hosts from the start. Sarabia soon fired his side in front with his first goal for Wolves. The shot was brilliantly taken; Raúl Jiménez headed the ball down to Sarabia who nudged it up for himself and then fizzed it low and beyond Bernd Leno.

Fulham tried to strike back, but their top scorer Aleksandar Mitrovic has been sidelined by a hamstring injury leaving them short at the front.

Fortunately, they had super sub Solomon on the bench. Manor Solomon has had his own misfortunes having picked up a knee injury in his first game for the club back in August. Fulham’s manager Marco Silva has said Solomon is not ready for 90 minutes of Premier League football yet, but has brought him on from the bench in the last three games. When

Solomon drove the ball into the goal with a right-footed shot from outside the box, he made it three goals in three games.

Final score: Fulham 1 - Wolverhampton Wanderers 1

Harry Kane wraps up the win for Tottenham

When Graham Potter took over at Chelsea, it was not going to be easy. His predecessor Thomas Tuchel was a perfectionist whose methods and tactics had brought success on the pitch but had upset his players and the club management. Since Potter took over, he’s overseen the assembly of the most expensive squad in the Premier League. But as Potter admitted at the weekend, Chelsea are suffering.

Chelsea’s starting 11 had six changes from their last outing. Potter is still trying to find the right combination and shape to take advantage of the talent in his squad. But this configuration was not it and they did little to open up Spurs’ defence.

As Tottenham got the measure of this version of Chelsea, they started pressing harder and minutes after the second half started, Oliver Skipp scored with a powerful strike from outside the area. Chelsea’s Enzo Fernandez took the ball from his own keeper and then tried to clear it, but his clearance landed in the path of Skipp who thumped the ball to score his first ever goal for Spurs.

Chelsea never looked like they might equalise. Potter made changes throughout the half, but nothing seemed to make the difference they needed.

When Son Heung-min curled the ball towards the goal from a corner kick, Eric Dier headed the ball down and Harry Kane tapped it into the net, wrapping up the win for Spurs.

Final score: Tottenham Hotspur 2 - Chelsea 0

Right, now it’s time for you to think about the language again.

Your challenge this week is to complete the gaps in the following sentences with the correct forms of the words and phrases that I’ve spoken about in this podcast. I have taken all of these sentences from news websites and edited them slightly.

Number 1. The young couple enjoyed a trip to the theatre and then ____________ the night with a romantic dinner at a local restaurant.

Number 2. Barcelona winger Raphinha ____________ an _________ by kicking a fridge in anger during a Europa League clash with Manchester United.

Number 3. A Wrexham fan is excited to watch Kings of Leon play at the Racecourse saying: "I love their songs so much. I hope Rob and Ryan come as well. That'll be the _______________."

Number 4. City had the better of the chances in the opening 45 minutes, but were unable to ________________.

Number 5. A new cultural exchange scheme has opened to provide young ________ in the UK and India with the opportunity to travel and work.

Number 6. The effects of the extreme weather have left New Zealand scrambling to _________ their team; five players in all have not yet been able to join up.

Number 7. The young couple has been shut away in their hotel room due to the bad weather but ________________ of a break in the rain on Sunday to go for a walk in the gardens.

Number 8. United were left ________ a striker when Cristiano Ronaldo's contract was terminated by mutual consent late last year.

Number 9. A couple of investment bankers have ditched their __________ nine-to-fives to live on a narrowboat with their toddler and have plans to open a café on the canal.

Leave your answers to the language challenge in the comments section on the Premier Skills English website.

Your task this week is to tell me about someone you know or perhaps a famous person from your country that has a lot of talent. Perhaps they are an athlete, a footballer, or a musician or another artist ... or perhaps they have a natural ability in another area. I would like you to tell me about a talented person, tell me what makes them so talented and about how you first became aware of their unusual abilities.

Share your ideas in the comments section on the page for this podcast on Premier Skills English.

Now it’s time for this week's football phrase.

This week’s football phrase is *****. This is a list of players that every Premier League club needs to submit to the league from which the club manager can select a team. In the Premier League, clubs are limited to 25 players per *****.

If you know the answer, be sure to leave it in a comment on the page for this podcast on Premier Skills English.

Before I finish, I am going to go through the answers to last week’s language challenge.

Number 1. Josh Prosser looked up to see what was on and decided to kick wide, with acres of space inviting an attack.

Number 2. We were a bit slow on the ball, they gave us a lot of time on the ball but we managed to find a way through in the end.

Number 3. The new player on loan offers Manchester United versatility as well as having a good mentality and being smart on the ball but he’s got to prove himself and that means not being “too nice” and going full throttle for the rest of his loan spell.

Number 4. The England team have sealed a record-breaking win in the final Women’s T20 World Cup group game.

Number 5. Mahamadou Landoure is still 13, but he's already made a case for being "the most dominant basketball player" on Earth.

Number 6. Manchester United were after revenge in the 2011 Champions League final, but Barcelona had other ideas as their intricate tiki-taka plan worked to perfection.

Number 7. Manchester City made their points on and off the pitch as they turned up the heat on Arsenal in the title race.

Number 8. McIntyre became an Olympic champion in Tokyo two years ago but has lost the belief that she can reach the summit of the sailing world once more in Paris 2024.

Number 9. Morrell feels a combination of injury and the onset of the World Cup contributed to a mixed bag of displays earlier in the season.

And that’s all I have time for today. Before I finish, I just wanted to say that I hope you found this podcast useful, and I hope all of you stay fit and healthy and safe.

Bye for now and enjoy your football.