This Week: Tight at the top

This Week: Tight at the top

Laura: Hello my name’s Laura and welcome to our weekly round-up section called ‘This Week’ on Premier Skills English. 

Jack: Hi there. I’m Jack. We’ve got lots of interesting words and phrases to help you talk about football in English.

Rich: My name’s Rich. If you want to listen and read at the same time we have a transcript of this podcast on the Premier Skills English website.

Laura: This week we focus on the battles at the top of the Premier League and the Women’s Super League.

Jack: We’re going to look at three headlines from the weekend’s action and look at six words and phrases connected to those headlines. 

Rich: We want you to use and practise these words and phrases by interacting with Premier League fans from around the world in our comments section.

Laura: 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: The words and phrases we are looking at this week are: within striking distance, a double, goal difference, to lose ground, to be back on track and an improvised lob.

Laura: Later on we’ll also have a language challenge for you to have a go at so you need to be ready for that.

Headline 1

Jack: Stones at the double as City move second.

Laura: Manchester City eased past Crystal Palace with a 4-0 win and moved into second place in the Premier League table. John Stones scored a double - his first Premier League goals in nearly six years. Ilkay Gundogan and Raheem Sterling completed the scoring as City moved within striking distance of the Premier League leaders.

Rich: And those Premier League leaders are still Manchester United after their goalless draw against Liverpool.

Jack: Yes, it’s very tight at the top - the top six are within five points of each other.

Laura: They are all within striking distance of top spot in the Premier League. This is the first phrase we’re going to look at today: within striking distance. 

Rich: In the headline, Laura said City are within striking distance of the Premier League leaders.

Jack: To be within striking distance means you are very close or near to getting what you want.

Laura: City want top spot; they want to win the Premier League - they are only two points behind Manchester United and they have a game in hand. They are very close to getting what they want - they are within striking distance.

Rich: The other word we want to look at from this headline is a double. John Stones scored a double. 

Jack: This means he scored twice. He scored two goals.

Laura: In the headline, Jack said Stones at the double as City move second.

Rich: We’re playing with language here as we’re using the phrase at the double because John Stones scored twice. 

Jack: The phrase at the double means to do something very quickly. It’s usually used to instruct someone to do something quickly. 

Laura: The best example I can think of is in the army - when a sergeant shouts at a soldier because he wants them to come quickly. Soldier - here now - at the double!

Rich: I think the phrase originally comes from the military and it means to march at double the normal speed.

Jack: To be within striking distance means you are very close or near to getting what you want. The phrase comes from the military. When a warship or tank is close enough to the enemy to strike it, that is to hit it, the enemy is within striking distance.

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

Headline 2

Laura: Chelsea move top of Super League.

Rich: Chelsea beat Manchester United 2-1 to move ahead of their opponents on goal difference. Pernille Harder opened the scoring for the Blues in the first half, Lauren James equalised for United but Fran Kirby got the winner. Manchester City thrashed Aston Villa seven-nil but Arsenal lost ground to the top two as they were held to a goalless draw against Reading.

Jack: It’s still very tight at the top of the Women’s Super League - any of the top four could win the title.

Laura: Let’s look at some language. Rich said that Chelsea have moved ahead of Manchester United on goal difference.

Rich: Goal difference is what separates two teams in the table if they have the same number of points.

Jack: Chelsea have scored thirty goals and conceded just six so they have a goal difference of plus twenty-four.

Laura: Manchester United have scored twenty-eight goals and conceded eleven so have a goal difference of plus seventeen.

Rich: Chelsea’s goal difference is seven better than Manchester United’s.

Jack: Goal difference is what is used in England to separate teams in league tables. If goal difference is the same the next way of separating teams is the number of goals scored and then the matches played between the two teams.

Laura: The other phrase we want to look at from this headline is to lose ground. Rich said that Arsenal lost ground to the top two after a goalless draw with Reading.

Rich: To lose ground means to let someone or something else get an advantage.

Jack: Because the top two teams won and Arsenal only drew Arsenal lost ground to them. The top two moved two points ahead of Arsenal in the table - Arsenal lost ground to their title rivals.

Laura: This is another phrase that was originally used in the military. The lost ground was the land or territory lost by an army that was retreating - going backwards.

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

Headline 3

Rich: Spurs back on track after N’dombele stunner.

Jack: Tottenham’s season got back on track with a 3-1 win at Sheffield United that lifted Spurs briefly back into the top four. Serge Aurier and Harry Kane both scored before United threatened a comeback with a header from David McGoldrick. The scoring was completed by Tanguy N’dombele when he scored with a brilliant, improvised lob which found the bottom corner of the net.

Laura: I’m not sure he meant to do that. I think it was an accident - a fluke.

Rich: They said after the match that he meant it so it was a fabulous goal.

Jack: Let’s look at some language. I said that the result got Tottenham’s season back on track.

Laura: To get something back on track is an idiom and it means to be going in the right direction again after a  mistake or a failure of some kind.

Rich: Someone might have to get their life back on track after making mistakes in their career, personal life or after getting in trouble with the police.

Jack: We usually use the phrase in sports after a player or team starts winning again following a few defeats. Spurs haven’t been playing so well recently but this win might get their season back on track.

Laura: The final bit of language we want to look at this week is an improvised lob. Jack said Tanguy N’domble scored with an improvised lob.

Rich: A lob, in football, is when you shoot by kicking the ball high in the air so it falls behind the goalkeeper and into the net.

Jack: Something that is improvised means that you have done it without thinking or planning and just use what you have available to you at that time.

Laura: If you haven’t got the right equipment to do something you may have to improvise and use what you have.

Rich: N’dombele scored with an improvised lob. He wasn’t really in a good position to score a goal but he improvised and managed to score with a fantastic lob.

Jack: OK. We’ve looked at three stories and lots of vocabulary in our headlines. The words and phrases we’ve looked at were: within striking distance, a double, goal difference, to lose ground, to be back on track and an improvised lob.

Laura: Listen to the headlines again to hear these words and phrases in context and don’t forget to look at the website for the transcript if you want to check your understanding of this vocabulary.

Headlines

Jack: Stones at the double as City move second.

Laura: Manchester City eased past Crystal Palace with a 4-0 win and moved into second place in the Premier League table. John Stones scored a double - his first Premier League goals in nearly six years. Ilkay Gundogan and Raheem Sterling completed the scoring as City moved within striking distance of the Premier League leaders.

Laura: Chelsea move top of Super League.

Rich: Chelsea beat Manchester United 2-1 to move ahead of their opponents on goal difference. Pernille Harder opened the scoring for the Blues in the first half, Lauren James equalised for United but Fran Kirby got the winner. Manchester City thrashed Aston Villa seven-nil but Arsenal lost ground to the top two as they were held to a goalless draw against Reading.

Rich: Spurs back on track after N’dombele stunner.

Jack: Tottenham’s season got back on track with a 3-1 win at Sheffield United that lifted Spurs briefly back into the top four. Serge Aurier and Harry Kane both scored before United threatened a comeback with a header from David McGoldrick. The scoring was completed by Tanguy N’dombele when he scored with a brilliant, improvised lob which found the bottom corner of the net.

Prediction

Rich: Last week we predicted the Liverpool - Manchester United game. It didn’t finish like any of us expected.

Jack: No, the match was a bit of an anti-climax. A 0-0 draw.

Laura: Liverpool had most of the possession but it was actually United who had the best chances. I think United will be the happier of the two teams.

Rich: I think Manchester City will be the happiest - they are now within striking distance of the top.

Jack: OK, which match are you going to predict this week, Rich?

Rich: This weekend Premier League clubs are back in FA Cup action.
Laura: And you know who’s playing who?

Rich: Yes, it’s a re-match. Manchester United are at home to Liverpool on Sunday. I’m sure this match is going to be much better - for one thing there can’t be a draw because there is the possibility of extra-time and penalties. United will think they have the upper hand after getting a draw at Anfield last week but I still think Liverpool will win. It’s going to be loads better than last week and it will finish 3-2 to Liverpool after extra time.

Jack: That’s a bit optimistic. I think it’ll be 0-0 again with United going through on penalties.

Laura: What do you think the score will be? We want all of you to make your predictions for this match and we’ve selected a few more FA Cup fourth round fixtures on the Premier Skills English website.

Language Challenge

Rich: To finish up the show we’ve got a quick language challenge connected to this week’s vocabulary.

Laura: Earlier we spoke about the idiom to lose ground and we’ve got three more sentences which use idioms with the word lose.

Jack: We want you to write the missing word in the comments section on the Premier Skills English website.

Rich: Smaller clubs have ______ to lose when they play bigger clubs in the FA Cup so they just go for it.

Laura: I think the team just lost ______ when the third goal went in. They gave up.

Jack: You can’t lose your ________ like that. It was an awful tackle and an obvious red card.

Rich: We want you to write the answers on the Premier Skills English website where we have some more questions and activities connected to this week’s show.

Laura: Or write your answer on Apple Podcasts if that’s where you listen to us. Just write the answers in the review section and say hi.

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

Rich: Bye for now and enjoy your football.