Women's Super League: A winning streak
Women's Super League: A winning streak
Welcome to This Week from Premier Skills English, a weekly review of football action for learners of English from across the globe. In This Week, Jack and Rich talk about the latest action from the Premier League and have lots of football English for you to learn.
There was no Premier League action last weekend but Premier League clubs were in action in the Women’s Super League.
Transcript
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 Spotify or 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: There was no Premier League action last weekend but Premier League clubs were in action in the Women’s Super League.
Jack: We are going to use some of the big stories from the WSL to help you with your football English. Let’s start with the headlines.
Headlines
Jack: Chelsea end Arsenal’s winning run.
Rich: Chelsea came from behind to beat the reigning Champions, Arsenal, and bring to an end the Gunner’s 11-match winning streak. Arsenal’s Dutch midfielder, Danielle van Donk opened the scoring but goals from Bethany England and great long-range strike from Norwegian defender, Maria Thorisdottir gave Chelsea the points.
Jack: City stay ahead of the pack.
Rich: Manchester City brushed aside Birmingham City to make it four wins out of four and stay top of the table. Goals from Keira Walsh, Belgian forward Tessa Wullaert and South Korean forward Geum Min Lee gave City a comfortable win.
Jack: United have a great away day at Spurs.
Rich: Manchester United thumped Tottenham 3-0 away from home to move up to fourth in the table. The battle between these two newly-promoted teams was never in doubt following an early goal for Kirsty James. An own goal and a late Jane Ross strike added gloss to the result.
Vocabulary alert!
Rich: In our vocabulary alert, we look at some football English that we used in the headlines.
Jack: We have some interesting phrases this week. Our six phrases are: a winning run, a winning streak, reigning Champions, to brush aside, a late strike and to add gloss to the result.
Rich: Let’s start with the phrases we used to talk about the Chelsea - Arsenal match. We said that Chelsea ended Arsenal’s winning run. A winning run is used to describe the number of consecutive matches that a team have won without drawing or losing a match.
Jack: Arsenal were on an 11-match winning run before Chelsea beat them. This can also be described as a winning streak. Chelsea broke Arsenal’s 11-match winning streak.
Rich: We said that Arsenal are the reigning Champions. This is another way of saying the current Champions. To reign over something or someone means to be the best or most important in a specific situation.
Jack: It’s more commonly used to talk about monarchs or kings and queens. Queen Elizabeth has reigned over the UK since 1952.
Rich: The next phrase is a phrasal verb: to brush aside. It means to move something easily or act like it is not important.
Jack: We said that Manchester City brushed aside Birmingham easily. This means that they won easily without having to pay at their best.
Rich: We used our last two phrases to speak about the Manchester United - Tottenham match. We spoke about a late Jane Ross strike. A strike is a shot that results in a goal so a Jane Ross strike means a goal scored by Jane Ross.
Jack: We often use the construction late + the player’s name + strike to describe a goal scored near the end of a match.
Rich: Our final phrase is an idiom: to add gloss to the result. The phrase means to make something extra attractive. Manchester United were winning 1-0 put scored another two to add gloss to the result - to make the score look more attractive.
Jack:Gloss is actually something that you add to make something shiny. For example, you can use gloss paint which has a shiny finish or lip gloss to make your lips shiny.
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: a winning run, a winning streak, reigning Champions, to brush aside, a late strike and to add gloss to the result.
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: Our Player of the Week is Chelsea’s Fran Kirby. The England international ran the show for Chelsea and she helped the Blues inflict a first defeat of the season on Arsenal.
Jack: Our Team of the Week is Manchester City. City brushed aside Birmingham and are flying high at the top of the table.
Rich: Finally, our goal of the week goes to Chelsea’s Maria Thorisdottir. A thunderbolt from outside the box to give Chelsea a great win over Arsenal.
Jack: If you haven’t seen any of this action a great place to see the goals is on the club Twitter feeds and take a look at the official club websites for reports on all the games.
Matchweek Prediction
Jack: Every week, Rich predicts the result of one Premier League match and we want you to make your prediction, too.
Rich: We’re on an international break at the moment.
Jack: Let’s hear your prediction again then for the next round of Premier League matches. It’s Manchester United against Liverpool.
Rich: OK, here’s my prediction: Liverpool have had a blistering start to the season while Manchester United’s start has been poor but the Red Devils will be desperate to stop Liverpool running away with the Premier League title. The problem is I don’t think United have the defence to stop Liverpool from scoring or the attack to trouble Liverpool’s defence. I think this could be one of Liverpool’s most comfortable wins of the season. Final score: Manchester United 0-3 Liverpool
Jack: You can make your predictions on the Premier Skills English website in the comments section and talk about the big match at the same time!
Rich: Remember we also have some questions for you to answer that give you a chance to use this week’s vocabulary.
Jack: 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.
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.
Results
Matchweek 4:
Manchester City 3-0 Birmingham City
Liverpool 1-1 Bristol City
Chelsea 2-1 Arsenal
Tottenham 0-3 Manchester United
Brighton 1-3 West Ham
Reading 3-2 Everton
Headlines
Chelsea end Arsenal’s winning run
Chelsea came from behind to beat the reigning Champions, Arsenal, and bring to an end the Gunner’s 11-match winning streak. Arsenal’s Dutch midfielder, Danielle van Donk opened the scoring but goals from Bethany England and a great long-range strike from Norwegian defender, Maria Thorisdottir gave Chelsea the points.
Headlines
City stay ahead of the pack
Manchester City brushed aside Birmingham City to make it four wins out of four and stay top of the table. Goals from Keira Walsh, Belgian forward Tessa Wullaert and South Korean forward Geum Min Lee gave City a comfortable win.
Headlines
United have a great away day at Spurs
Manchester United thumped Tottenham 3-0 away from home to move up to fourth in the table. The battle between these two newly-promoted teams was never in doubt following an early goal for Kirsty James. An own goal and a late Jane Ross strike added gloss to the result.
Vocabulary Alert
Football English
We looked at six pieces of football English that you can learn to improve your English. Take a look at the phrases in bold. Do you understand what they mean?
Chelsea end Arsenal's winning run and bring to an end the Gunner’s 11-match winning streak. Bothe of these phrases describe a consecutive series of winning matches.
Chelsea came from behind to beat the reigning Champions. This is another way of saying the current Champions.
Manchester City brushed aside Birmingham City. To brush something aside means to move something easily or act like it is not important.
An own goal and a late Jane Ross completed the scoring. We often use the construction late + the player’s name + strike to describe a goal scored near the end of a match.
An own goal and a late Jane Ross strike added gloss to the final result. This phrase means to make something look more attractive.
Can you use the words in bold in a different sentence? Write a sentence at the bottom of the page. If you're not sure, listen to the audio for more explanations and examples.
Matchweek Awards
Do you agree with our choices?
Player of the Week: Fran Kirby (Chelsea)
Team of the Week: Manchester City
Goal of the Week: Maria Thorisdottir (Chelsea)
Manchester Utd v Liverpool
The big match this weekend is Manchester United against Liverpool. Rich thinks it will be an easy one for Liverpool. Do you agree?
What are your predictions? Have a listen to what Rich says and then make your prediction and talk about any of this weekend's matches below.
Football Chat
What do you think?
Jack and Rich have spoken about Matchweek 4 in the Women's Super League. Now it's your turn! Have a look at the questions and write your answers in the comments section below.
- Rich and Jack chose Chelsea's Fran Kirby as Player of the Week. Do you agree?
- Jack and Rich selected Manchester City as their Team of the Week. Do you agree?
- Rich and Jack picked Maria Thorisdottir's strike as Goal of the Week. Take a look at it here.
- Use this week's vocabulary: What's the longest winning streak you can remember? Who are reigning champions in your country?
- Can you use 'to brush aside' and 'to add some gloss to the result' in a sentence?
Don't forget to make your prediction for this week's Big Match!
Let's get the conversation started and create a community!
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Comments
09/01/2022
points
Phrases
• Parliamentary candidate has already on a twelve provinces winning streak of pre-election..
• This company reigned over the market for seven years but mismanagement take it out of it with a huge loss of profit.
• When famous star had been addicted to alcohol she was brushed aside by the movie directors.
• Last L.Messi strike saved PSG from defeat.
• She added gloss to the her high performance by passing three exams at the same time.
Joke-:)
"A bad luck deflect, made a goal reflect".
09/01/2022 17:33
Tottenham Hotspur
5558
Phrases
• Parliamentary candidate has already on a twelve provinces winning streak of pre-election..
• This company reigned over the market for seven years but mismanagement take it out of it with a huge loss of profit.
• When famous star had been addicted to alcohol she was brushed aside by the movie directors.
• Last L.Messi strike saved PSG from defeat.
• She added gloss to the her high performance by passing three exams at the same time.
Joke-:)
"A bad luck deflect, made a goal reflect".
20/10/2019
points
Thanks for this episode about the women football league. Unfortunately I can't answer the first two questions but the Maria Thorisdottir's strike was beautiful.
Recently the Corinthians's women team, from Brazil, achieved a 34 winning streak, which is a record.
In my country, the women from a small team called Ferroviária are the reigning champions, after breaking the Corinthians streak and winning a penalty shootout two weeks ago.
Yesterday, New Zealand brushed aside Ireland in the Rugby World Cup and Everton's late Gilfy Sigurdsson stunning goal added some gloss to the result against the Hammers.
20/10/2019 12:58
Tottenham Hotspur
615
Thanks for this episode about the women football league. Unfortunately I can't answer the first two questions but the Maria Thorisdottir's strike was beautiful.
Recently the Corinthians's women team, from Brazil, achieved a 34 winning streak, which is a record.
In my country, the women from a small team called Ferroviária are the reigning champions, after breaking the Corinthians streak and winning a penalty shootout two weeks ago.
Yesterday, New Zealand brushed aside Ireland in the Rugby World Cup and Everton's late Gilfy Sigurdsson stunning goal added some gloss to the result against the Hammers.
15/10/2019
points
I agree with the three choices of course but the goal award for Maria Thorisdotter is the best as it is showed on Twitter.
The longest winning run might be Paris streak last season.
The reigning champion is USM Algiers but this year they suffer lots of problems in the local champoonship since their President is in jail for hazardous events linked to Hirak.
USMA brushed aside their Kenyan opponent on African competition. Their away win added gloss to their first leg victory in Algiers.
15/10/2019 15:10
Manchester City
3988
I agree with the three choices of course but the goal award for Maria Thorisdotter is the best as it is showed on Twitter.
The longest winning run might be Paris streak last season.
The reigning champion is USM Algiers but this year they suffer lots of problems in the local champoonship since their President is in jail for hazardous events linked to Hirak.
USMA brushed aside their Kenyan opponent on African competition. Their away win added gloss to their first leg victory in Algiers.
18/10/2019
points
Elghoul, thank you for your excellent and precise comments - they are always interesting to read.
18/10/2019 11:01
Liverpool
6577
Elghoul, thank you for your excellent and precise comments - they are always interesting to read.