This Week: Derby Joy

This Week: Derby Joy

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 Merseyside Derby, City’s winning streak and West Ham’s march up the table.

Jack: We’re going to look at three headlines from the weekend’s action and look at some 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: set up, run out winners, outjump, drop points, a two-goal cushion, and hold on.

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: Everton finally win at Anfield.

Laura: Everton won the Merseyside Derby as the Toffees beat Liverpool at Anfield for the first time since 1999. Richarlison opened the scoring after being wonderfully set up by James Rodriguez and Gylfi Sigurdsson got the second from the spot as the visitors ran out 2-0 winners.

Rich: Everton deserved the win - they were the better team and Liverpool need to find some form from somewhere.

Jack: Everton are now level on points with their city rivals with the two teams in sixth and seventh positions.

Laura: A great win for Everton. Let’s look at some language from the headline. I said that James Rodriguez set up the first goal. 

Rich: To set up is a phrasal verb and when we use it in football it means to provide a chance to score a goal.

Jack: James Rodriguez passed the ball to Richarlision who scored. James set up Richarlison. The goal was set up by James.

Laura: We often use the word assist. James made the assist. This is the same as James set up the goal.

Rich: When talking about football, we use the word assist as a noun much more often than a verb - it is used to describe chances created that result in goals. Harry Kane has the most assists in the Premier League this season - eleven.

Jack: I want to look at one more phrasal verb from our headline. The phrasal verb is to run out. Laura said that Everton ran out 2-0 winners.

Laura: To run out has a number of meanings. One of the most common meanings is to say that a supply of something has finished - that you don’t have anything left.

Rich: You might not be able to have a cappuccino because you’ve run out of milk or you might not be able to finish all the questions in an exam because you run out of time.

Laura: We often talk about a player or a team running out of steam in the second half. This means they run out of energy - they are tired.

Jack: To run out winners is a common football phrase to describe a team who has won a match. The phrase is connected to the phrasal verb ‘run out’ as it’s describing the winning team after 90 minutes - when the match has finished.

Laura: Everton ran out winners. Let’s move on to our second headline.

Headline 2

Laura: Sterling work by City.

Rich: Manchester City’s sensational form continued with a 1-0 win at Arsenal as the Citizens ran out winners for the eighteenth time in a row. Raheem Sterling got the only goal of the game when he outjumped Arsenal’s centre-backs to head in Riyad Mahrez's cross. City have not dropped a single point since the 15th of December.

Jack: Arsenal didn’t do too badly and after a bad start could easily have got a draw but you can’t allow Raheem Sterling to outjump the entire defence like that.

Laura: Yes, I think he was probably the smallest player on the pitch - he doesn’t score many headers.

Rich: This is the first word we want to look at from this headline - to outjump someone. 

Jack: It means to jump higher or further than someone. When we’re talking about football it always refers to a player who jumps higher than their opponent when trying to head the ball.

Laura: Raheem Sterling outjumped two defenders to head the ball into the net.

Rich: The second phrase I want us to look at is to drop points. I said that City haven’t dropped points since the 15th of December.

Jack: A team drop points when they lose or draw. When they lose they drop three points and when they draw they drop two points.

Laura: This is because a team can earn three points when they win so a draw means they have lost the chance to win a maximum of three points.

Rich: We often talk about teams near the top of the table dropping points. Liverpool can’t afford to drop many more points if they want to get back into the Champions League places.

Jack: This means they can’t lose or draw many more matches. They need to win. Let’s move on to our final headline.

Headline 3

Rich: Hammers go fourth after Derby win against Spurs.

Jack: West Ham beat Tottenham 2-1 to go fourth in the Premier League. Michail Antonio scored from close-range and on-loan midfielder, Jesse Lingard gave the Hammers a two-goal cushion. Tottenham got a goal back when Lucas Moura scored, and they hit the post twice but West Ham held on for the win.

Laura: West Ham are doing really well and it looks like getting Jesse Lingard on loan from Manchester United was a very good decision.

Rich: Yes, West Ham could be playing Champions League football for the first-ever time in a few months.

Jack: OK, let’s look at a bit of language. The first phrase I want to look at is a two-goal cushion. I said that Jesse Lingard’s goal gave the Hammers a two-goal cushion.

Laura: A cushion is what you have on your sofa. It’s a little square bag of soft material that makes it more comfortable when you sit down.

Rich: The keyword here is comfortable because the phrase is kind of similar in meaning. A cushion can be something that protects you from something bad happening.

Jack: West Ham had a two-goal cushion and they needed it to protect them from Tottenham scoring. Tottenham did score but West Ham still won because the two-goal cushion they had protected them.

Laura: We might talk about needing a financial cushion in case you lose your job. The financial cushion might be some savings in the bank for example. Something that protects you or adds comfort in case something bad happens.

Rich: Our final phrase this week is hold on. We said that West Ham held on despite Tottenham scoring and hitting the post twice.

Jack: To hold on is a phrasal verb which, in our example, means to continue doing something in a difficult situation.

Rich: West Ham held on to their lead even though Spurs were attacking a lot. They continued to lead and won the game in the end in a difficult situation.

Laura: Can West Ham hold on to a Champions League place? We’ll have to wait and see.

Jack: OK. We’ve looked at three stories and lots of vocabulary in our headlines. The words and phrases we’ve looked at were: set up, run out winners, outjump, drop points, a two-goal cushion, and hold on.

Rich: 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 - Repeat

Prediction

Rich: Last week Rowan thought Everton would hold Liverpool to a draw. I thought this was a bad prediction.

Jack: Yes, because you thought Liverpool would win easily but Everton won easily.

Laura: So, although my prediction was better than Rich’s I was still wrong so Jack you’re going to have to do the prediction this week.

Jack: No, problem. This weekend’s big match is Chelsea at home to Manchester United. Chelsea have been going well under their new manager and are up to fifth. Manchester United have a six-point cushion on their opponents but I think they might drop points in this one. I think Chelsea will score early and hold on to run out winners. Final score: Chelsea 1-0 Manchester United

Rich: Not a bad prediction. Chelsea haven’t been conceding many goals recently. I think both teams will drop points though and it’ll finish in a draw.

Laura: What do you think the score will be? We want all of you to make your predictions for this match and all the Premier League fixtures which you can find on the Premier Skills English website.

Language Challenge

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

Rich: Earlier we spoke about Raheem Sterling outjumping the Arsenal defence. Our language challenge this week is for you to learn three phrases with the word jump.

Laura: Listen to the sentences. Do you know the missing words?

Jack: Everton fans must be jumping for *** after that derby win against Liverpool

Rich: I only said Arsenal shouldn’t have let Raheem Sterling score that header. There’s no need to jump down my ******.

Laura: I’d jump at the ****** to see the World Cup Final if I was ever offered some tickets.

Jack: 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.

Rich: 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.

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

Jack: Bye for now and enjoy your football.