Matchweek 35: Digging Deep

Introduction  

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

Jen: Hi there. I’m Jen. Jack’s not here this week but we’ve still got lots of interesting words and phrases to help you talk about football in English.

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

Jen: 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.

Rich: You can find all our latest content on the Premier Skills English homepage or the Premier Skills-British Council Facebook page. 

Jen: Let’s start with our headlines!

Headlines

Jen: City dig deep to beat Spurs.

Rich: Manchester City beat Tottenham 1-0 to gain some revenge for their Champions League defeat. Phil Foden’s diving header, his first Premier League goal, was enough to see City climb back to the top of the Premier League.

Jen: Liverpool get over the line against Cardiff.

Rich: Liverpool went back above City following a hard-fought 2-0 win away at Cardiff. Both teams missed chances before a Georginio Wijnaldum thunderbolt and a James Milner penalty gave the Reds victory.

Jen: Big teams stumble in race for Champions League.

Rich: None of the rest of the top six managed to win at the weekend. Chelsea could only draw at home to Burnley, Spurs lost to City and Arsenal lost at home to Crystal Palace. And Ole Gunnar Solskjaer apologised to fans as Manchester United lost 4-0 at Everton.

Jen: The title race is very exciting, isn’t it?

Rich: Yes, it’s the Manchester Derby on Wednesday. That is City’s game in hand on Liverpool. I think we will have a better idea of what will happen after that match.

Vocabulary alert!

Rich: In our vocabulary alert, we look at some football English that we used in the headlines.

Jen: Our six words and phrases this week are: to dig deep, a diving header, to get over the line, hard-fought, a thunderbolt, and to stumble.

Rich: Let’s start with the phrase to dig deep. We said that City had to dig deep against Spurs.

Jen: The phrase means to use something that you don’t usually need to get what you want. 

Rich: In football, this something is usually effort. City had to put more effort into their match than usual.

Jen: More generally, the phrase is used in connection with money. You might have to dig deep to find that bit of extra money for a holiday or something you really need.

Rich: The next phrase is a diving header. Phil Foden scored a diving header. A diving header is when you use your head to connect with the ball when the ball is low down and a couple of metres in front of you.

Jen: Another phrase we used in the headlines was to get over the line. We said Liverpool got over the line against Cardiff.

Rich: The phrase means to have a successful outcome or result but only just - by a narrow margin. Liverpool were successful against Cardiff but only just - it was difficult to beat them.

Jen: The next phrase is hard-fought. We described Liverpool’s win against Cardiff as a hard-fought 2-0 win.

Rich: Something that is hard-fought needs a lot of effort or hard work. You have to fight for what you want to achieve.

Jen: Georginio Wijnaldum scored with a thunderbolt for Liverpool. Thunderbolt is our next word.

Rich: You see thunderbolts when there is a storm. You hear thunder and you see lightning or thunderbolts.

Jen: In football, a thunderbolt is a very powerful shot. 

Rich: Our final word is to stumble. We said in the headlines ‘Big teams stumble in the race for the Champions League’.

Jen: To stumble means to fall when you are walking or running or to make a mistake. 

Rich: Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Spurs all stumbled last weekend - none of them won.

Jen: 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.

Rich: The words and phrases are: to dig deep, a diving header, to get over the line, hard-fought, a thunderbolt, and to stumble.

Football Awards

Rich: Right, every week, we give out three Matchweek awards. 

Jen: The awards are Player of the Week, Team of the Week and Goal of the Week.

Rich: In the comments section, you need to tell us if you agree with our choices.

Jen: Let’s start with Player of the Week. There were some big performances in Matchweek 35.

Rich: Ederson made some great saves for Manchester City against Spurs, Gerard Deulofeu scored another two goals for Watford and Ayoze Perez got his first-ever hat-trick for Newcastle. 

Jen: But our Player of the Week is Crystal Palace’s Wilfried Zaha. He was the main reason Palace went to Arsenal and won 3-2. He was brilliant.

Rich: The next award is for Team of the Week. There were great wins for Manchester City, Liverpool, Watford, Newcastle, Fulham, and Palace.

Jen: But our Team of the Week is Everton. A 4-0 win against Manchester United. That has to be Everton's best result of the season.

Rich: ANd finally, our Goal of the Week. There were some brilliant strikes this weekend. Georgina Wijnaldum’s thunderbolt for Liverpool, Richarlison & Lucas Digne for Everton and Jamie Vardy finish for Leicester.

Jen: Our Goal of the Week is Ayoze Perez’s first goal for Newcastle. It was a lovely finish and he went on to score a hat-trick!

Matchweek Prediction 

Jen: Every week, Rich predicts the result of one Premier League match and we want you to make your prediction, too.

Rich: Make your predictions on the Premier Skills English website. You get one point if you predict the right result and three points if you predict the right score.

Jen: What’s the big match this weekend?

Rich: We’re focussing on the race for the Champions League as Manchester United take on Chelsea at Old Trafford. In matchweek 35 both teams had bad results; Chelsea were held to a 2-2 home draw by Burnley and United were thumped 4-0 at Everton. Both teams will be looking to bounce back and I think United will be under the most pressure to bounce back quickly. Can Ole Gunnar Solsjkaer get a reaction from his team? I think he can and United will win. Final score: Manchester United 2-0 Chelsea.

Jen: I’m not so sure. Chelsea aren’t playing in midweek and United will have played the Manchester Derby. I think Chelsea will win 1-0.

Rich: Right, that’s all we have time for. Thanks for joining us, Jen. I’m sorry that we haven’t talked about your team - Wolves.

Jen: They had a bit of a boring game last weekend. They drew 0-0 but have had a great season overall.

Rich: Yes, they have. I hope everyone has enjoyed this football round-up. Join the discussion at the bottom of the page on the Premier Skills English website. 

Jen: If you listen to us on Apple Podcasts, don’t forget to leave us a review. We’d love to hear from you.

Rich: Bye for now and enjoy your football.