Matchweek 14 & 15

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 have been two Matchweeks in the last seven days so let’s find out what happened in Matchweek 14 and Matchweek 15 in this week’s roundup!

Headlines

Rich: City leave it late but pick up maximum points.

Jack: Manchester City took six points out of six as they beat Southampton with a 96th-minute winner on Wednesday. On Sunday, City came from 1-0 down to beat West Ham 2-1 to win for the 13th time in a row in the Premier League.

Rich: United lead the chase with two away wins.

Jack: Manchester United remain eight points behind City in second place. United played some excellent counter-attacking football this week. First, they won 4-2 at Watford and then 3-1 at Arsenal in one of this season’s great Premier League games!

Rich: Liverpool are on fire on their travels.

Jack: Liverpool are another team who picked up six points from two away matches this week. First, they won three nil at Stoke and then put five past Brighton on Saturday. Liverpool move above Arsenal and Spurs into the Champions League places.

Definition Alert!

Rich: Liverpool picked up six points. City pick up maximum points. I like this phrase ‘pick up’ what does it mean exactly.

Jack: Pick up is a phrasal verb and it has lots of meanings. You can pick something up from the floor if you drop something, you might pick up a friend in your car. It often has a similar meaning to collect.

Rich: That’s how it is used in football too. City picked up maximum points, they collected six points from the two matches they played. 

Jack: Arsenal only picked up three points from their two matches last week - a bit disappointing.

Questions from listeners

Rich: If you listen to our weekly podcast or look at the Premier Skills Facebook page you will have seen that we spoke about pronunciation last week.

Jack: We were looking at the different sounds we use to say -OUGH.

Jack: We’ve had loads of comments and questions about some of these sounds and I told Jane - Hi Jane - that we’d go through the sounds. So very quickly, here are 8 different ways to pronounce ‘ough’.

Rich: Cough - I have a tickly cough. Cough Cough.

Jack: Through - the team went through to the next round.

Rich: Bought - Manchester Utd bought Romelu Lukaku from Everton.

Jack: Thorough - Before a player can join a team, they have to have a thorough medical. 

Rich: Though - City have a tough match, I think they’ll win though.

Jack: Lough - This one is a bit controversial. In Scotland, there are lochs and the word is spelled l o c h. A lough is similar to a lake in Scotland. Loch Ness is where the Loch Ness Monster lives. In Northern Ireland, the word is spelled l o u g h, but I think it means the same thing. In some areas, the final consonant is pronounced with a ch sound. This is how people say it in Scotland and I think in Northern Ireland, but the word is not common and I’ve never actually heard someone from Northern Ireland say it. In the dictionary I use, the phonetic transcription is lok and I think that’s the most common spoken form for the Scottish and Northern Irish words - even if it’s not the same as the form used in Scotland and Northern Ireland. 

Rich: Plough - this is not a common word. It’s a tool that farmers use to prepare soil. It is used figuratively - non-literally - to mean to go forward, through obstacles in an unstoppable way. So you could say, the rugby player ploughed through the opposition defence.

Jack: And the last one: Tough - Manchester City have a tough match next week.

Rich: We’ve put the worksheet and a link to the podcast on the side of the page.

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: Last week, not all of you agreed with our choices.

Jack: For example, MS Aboelsafa from Egypt felt that Southampton’s Charlie Austin should have been our Player of the Week last week.

Rich: And Khaldoun83 didn’t agree with our choices at all! He felt that Mohamed Salah should have been the Player of the Week, Liverpool v Chelsea the Match of the Week and Manchester City Team of the Week.

Jack: They're never easy these choices. Who have we chosen as this week’s Player of the Week?

Rich: We’re looking at both Matchweek 14 and 15 this week and there were some great performances.

Jack: Liverpool’s Roberto Firmino, Leicester City’s Riyad Mahrez and Wayne Rooney with his goal from the halfway line! They all had great weeks!

Rich: But ou Player of the Week this week is …  Manchester Utd’s David De Gea! He made an amazing 14 saves against Arsenal - equalling the Premier League record number of saves in a match.

Jack: He was brilliant. Arsenal would have won if it wasn’t for him.

Rich: Right, what about our Team of the Week?

Jack: Manchester City, Liverpool, Manchester Utd, Everton, Leicester, Chelsea all picked up a  maximum six points in Matchweeks 14 and 15.

Rich: And our team of the week is ... Liverpool. Two away matches, eight goals scored and only one goal conceded - a great week.

Jack: And finally our Match of the Week has to be ... Arsenal v Manchester Utd.

Rich: Yes, it was a sensational game. Brilliant defence and counter attacks from Utd and an inspired goalkeeper. Some people say that Arsenal were actually the better team …

Jack: Yes, they were …

Rich: Ah well! 

Fantasy Football

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

Jack: The top scoring player in matchweek 14 was Arsenal’s mesut Ozil with 17 points and in Matchweek 15 it was Liverpool’s Phillippe Coutinho with 18 points.

Rich: And in the Premier Skills League the team at the top is still the Premier Skills team!

Jack: The Premier Skills Fantasy Premier League Team of the Week for Matchweek 15 was Xhaca Laca Boom Boom managed by Udhbhav Gupta an Arsenal fan from India. He scored 83 points!

Rich: Well done Udhbhav from India!

Matchweek Prediction

Jack: Last week’s prediction was Arsenal v Manchester Utd. Both Rich and I thought Arsenal would win but United won 3-1. 

Rich: Not many people thought United would win so a bit of a surprise result at the Emirates Stadium.

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

Rich: Matchweek sixteen’s big match is a huge one! Well, there are two huge matches. It’s Derby Day in the Premier League on Sunday. There is the Merseyside Derby between Liverpool and Everton and then the Manchester Derby. First against second. Let’s start in Liverpool - Everton have changed their manager and have won their last two matches but Liverpool are scoring goals for fun at the moment. I’m going for a comfortable win for the Reds. I think the Manchester Derby will be much closer. City have had an astonishing start to the season and have won a Premier League record-equalling thirteen matches in a row. United will want to stop City breaking that record and close the top at the top of the Premier League. The match is more important for United at the moment and I think they will manage to win.
So my predictions are: Liverpool 3-1 Everton and Manchester Utd 2-1 Manchester City

Jack: It will be an exciting day and I’m sure many of you will be glued to the screen!

Rich: We want you to make your prediction at the bottom of the page on the website. Are you a good predictor? 

Jack: Right, that’s all we have time for. I hope you have enjoyed this Monday round-up. Don’t forget to join the discussion at the bottom of this page.  
 
Rich: Also, if you want to improve your English, take a look at our weekly podcast. There is a link on the side of this page.

Jack: Bye for now and enjoy your football.