This Week: Unbeaten Runs
This Week: Unbeaten Runs
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, Rich, Laura and Jack talk about the latest action from the Premier League and have lots of football English for you to learn.
Transcript
This Week: Unbeaten Runs
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 two unbeaten runs: one in the Premier League and the other in 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: midweek, dozen,
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: Wins by the dozen for City.
Laura: Manchester City are back on top of the Premier League following two wins over the last seven days. City followed up a 5-0 win at West Brom in midweek with a 1-0 home win against Sheffield United at the weekend. The Citizens have won their last dozen games - a new club record - and are three points clear at the top of the table.
Rich: City are looking strong - they’ve won every game they’ve played this year.
Jack: They’ve got a game in hand, too. It’s looking good for the title.
Laura: Come on guys! We’re only halfway through the season! There’s a lot of football left in the season yet.
Rich: You’re right. Let’s look at some language. This week’s first word is midweek. Premier League teams are playing more games in midweek this season.
Jack: Midweek means the middle of the week - it’s a bit subjective but I’d say midweek is Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
Laura: Usually, midweek is for European matches and cup football with an occasional round of Premier League matches but this season is shorter so there are many more Premier League matches in midweek.
Rich: Be careful with the preposition you use here. Matches are played at the weekend but in midweek.
Jack: The second word we want to look at from the first headline is dozen. We said that Manchester City have won their last dozen games.
Laura: How many is a dozen? A dozen is twelve. City have won their last twelve games.
Rich: It’s unusual. I don’t really know why we have a special word for 12. We don’t have a special word for thirteen or nine. It’s only really used for eggs, isn’t it? You can buy a dozen eggs or half a dozen eggs.
Jack: Actually, I’ve read that twelve is one of the earliest groupings of numbers. People first saw twelve cycles of the moon as the Earth orbits the sun. There are twelve months in a year - that kind of thing.
Laura: In the headline, Jack said City win by the dozen. This is an idiomatic phrase and it is used to mean large numbers in general.
Rich: The shop was really quiet in the morning, but by midday, people were arriving by the dozen.
Jack: Let’s move on to our second headline.
Headline 2
Laura: Chelsea stretch their unbeaten record in the Women’s Super League.
Rich: Two goals from the German midfielder, Melanie Leupolz helped Chelsea beat Spurs 4-0 and extend their unbeaten run to an amazing thirty-three matches. Leupolz’s first was a spectacular swerving strike from long-range and her second from the penalty spot. Despite Chelsea’s good form, Manchester United are still level on points with the leaders following a 2-0 win at Everton.
Jack: Thirty-three matches without defeat is a major achievement. Did you know that Chelsea haven’t lost a game for over two years!
Laura: Let’s look at some longer pieces of language from the headline. Rich said that Chelsea extended their unbeaten run. A run is a period or spell of time. In sports, we usually mean a series of matches.
Rich: Chelsea are on an unbeaten run. They have not been beaten - they have not been defeated - they have not lost for a long period of time - thirty-three matches.
Jack: Chelsea extended their unbeaten run at the weekend. It went from thirty-two matches to thirty-three matches. In the headline, Laura used the word stretch to say a similar thing: Chelsea stretch their unbeaten record.
Laura: Let’s look at another extended bit of language from the headline. Rich said Melanie Leupolz scored a spectacular swerving strike from long-range.
Rich: The keyword here is strike. Strike is the act of shooting the ball. It is often used to describe a shot that results in a goal.
Jack: Leupol’s shot was from long-range. This means it was far away - outside the penalty area. The strike was from long-range.
Laura: It was a swerving strike - the ball swerved in the air. To swerve means to suddenly change direction. In football, it means that the ball moved in the air because of how it was kicked. It was a swerving strike from long-range.
Rich: And it was a spectacular strike which means it was impressive - it looked good. Melanie Leupolz scored a spectacular swerving strike from long-range.
Jack: It was a very good goal. Let’s move on to our third headline.
Headline 3
Rich: Liverpool have a good week in the capital
Jack: Liverpool and Mohamed Salah are back in form following two wins in London in the past seven days. A 3-1 win at Tottenham was followed up with a 3-1 success at West Ham. Salah scored for the first time in seven games with a trademark turn and curling finish and got his second just ten minutes later when he finished off a swift counter-attack.
Laura: Liverpool are back up to third and their bad run of form seems to be over.
Rich: Yes, I hope so. We’re playing Manchester City this weekend!
Jack: OK, let’s look at some language. I said that Mohamed Salah scored with a trademark turn and curling finish.
Laura: The word trademark is most often used for products. A trademark is a symbol that is put on a company’s products to show that it was made and belongs to them and can’t be copied or used by other businesses without permission.
Rich: The word trademark is also used to describe something that is typical of a famous person. It’s used when a famous person or sports star regularly does something that makes them stand out or different.
Jack: Salah scored with a trademark turn and finish. This is the kind of goal that Salah often scores.
Laura: The second bit of language I want us to look at is another extended bit of language: Salah finished off a swift counter-attack.
Rich: A counter-attack is a sudden attack from a defensive position.
Jack: Counter-attacks are usually fast or swift - swift means the same as fast. A swift counter-attack.
Laura: To finish off is a phrasal verb which means to complete or to do the final thing to complete something. Salah finished off a swift counter-attack.
Jack: OK. We’ve looked at three stories and lots of vocabulary in our headlines. The words and phrases we’ve looked at were: midweek, dozen, to extend an unbeaten run, a spectacular swerving strike from long-range, trademark and to finish off a swift counter-attack
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 - Repeat
Prediction
Jack: Last week, Rich predicted a win for Manchester United against Arsenal but as I thought the Gunners performed well and got a draw.
Laura: Manchester United didn’t have a good week. A draw against Arsenal and a shock defeat against Manchester United.
Rich: I think Liverpool are Manchester City’s main challengers this season and they clash at Anfield on Sunday.
Jack: What do you think is going to happen?
Rich: Well, I’m hoping for some goals because many of the big matches have been a bit of an antic-climax so far this season. City, as we said earlier, have won their last dozen games so are in excellent form but Liverpool are back on track after a blip and they probably need the three points more than City. For that reason, I’m going to go for a home win. Final score: Liverpool 2-1 Manchester City.
Laura: City are on their best run of wins in their entire history. I’m not sure that’s going to stop this weekend. A City win for me.
Rich: 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
Rich: To finish up the show we’ve got a quick language challenge connected to this week’s vocabulary.
Laura: Earlier we looked at the sentence a spectacular swerving strike. Each word uses the letter s at the beginning. This is called alliteration and is very common in sports headlines.
Jack: Here are three more sentences which use alliteration. Can you guess the missing word?
Jack: Dodgy Dave ______ again to win penalty.
Rich: Firmino’s Fabulous _____ wins the game
Laura: Bruce Bounces ______ as Newcastle win.
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.
Headlines
Wins by the dozen for City
Manchester City are back on top of the Premier League following two wins over the last seven days. City followed up a 5-0 win at West Brom in midweek with a 1-0 home win against Sheffield United at the weekend. The Citizens have won their last dozen games - a new club record - and are three points clear at the top of the table.
Headlines
Chelsea stretch their unbeaten record in the Women’s Super League
Two goals from the German midfielder, Melanie Leupolz helped Chelsea beat Spurs 4-0 and extend their unbeaten run to an amazing thirty-three matches. Leupolz’s first was a spectacular swerving strike from long-range and her second from the penalty spot. Despite Chelsea’s good form, Manchester United are still level on points with the leaders following a 2-0 win at Everton.
Headlines
Liverpool have a good week in the capital
Liverpool and Mohamed Salah are back in form following two wins in London in the past seven days. A 3-1 win at Tottenham was followed up with a 3-1 success at West Ham. Salah scored for the first time in seven games with a trademark turn and curling finish and got his second just ten minutes later when he finished off a swift counter-attack.
Vocabulary Alert
Language in the headlines
We looked at six words and phrases in our headlines that you can learn to improve your English. Take a look at the phrases in bold. Do you understand what they mean?
The Citizens have won their last dozen games.
City followed up a 5-0 win at West Brom in midweek with a 1-0 home win against Sheffield United at the weekend.
Chelsea beat Spurs 4-0 and extended their unbeaten run to an amazing thirty-three matches.
Leupolz’s first was a spectacular swerving strike from long-range.
Salah scored with a trademark turn and curling finish.
Salah got his second when he finished off a swift counter-attack.
Prediction
Premier League Prediction: Liverpool v Manchester City
This week there are two rounds of Premier League fixtures. Matchweek 22 in midweek and matchweek 23 at the weekend. Take a look at who the Premier League teams are playing and make your predictions.
Matchweek 22
Sheffield United v West Brom
Wolves v Arsenal
Manchester United v Southampton
Newcastle v Crystal Palace
Burnley v Manchester City
Fulham v Leicester City
Leeds v Everton
Aston Villa v West Ham
Liverpool v Brighton
Tottenham v Chelsea
Matchweek 23
Aston Villa v Arsenal
Burnley v Brighton
Newcastle v Southampton
Fulham v West Ham
Manchester United v Everton
Spurs v West Brom
Wolves v Leicester
Liverpool v Manchester City
Sheffield United v Chelsea
Leeds v Crystal Palace
Language Challenge
Jack, Laura and Rich set you a language challenge. In the podcast, we described a goal as a spectacular swerving strike. This used what is called alliteration (when each word begins with the same letter) and it's very common in sports headlines. Here are three more sentences which use alliteration. Can you guess the missing words?
Dodgy Dave ***** again to win penalty.
Firmino’s Fabulous ****** wins the game
Bruce Bounces **** as Newcastle win.
Write the correct answer in the comments section at the bottom of the page.
Discuss
Talk about the headlines
Jack, Laura and Rich looked at three stories in the news and some vocabulary that might be new to you. Now it's your turn! Have a look at the questions and write your answers in the comments section below.
- Which teams extended their unbeaten runs last week?
- Who scored with a trademark finish?
- Who scored with a spectacular swerving strike?
- What are your Premier League predictions?
- Can you do our language challenge?
Write your comments and answers in the section below.
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Comentários
09/02/2021
points
Hi everyone,
The answers to the language challenge were:
Dodgy Dave dives again to win penalty.
Firmino’s Fabulous finish wins the game
Bruce Bounces back as Newcastle win
Rich - The Premier Skills English Team
09/02/2021 20:25
0
Hi everyone,
The answers to the language challenge were:
Dodgy Dave dives again to win penalty.
Firmino’s Fabulous finish wins the game
Bruce Bounces back as Newcastle win
Rich - The Premier Skills English Team
09/02/2021
points
Language Challenge :
Dodgy Dave ( Dives ) again to win penalty.
Firmino’s Fabulous ( Finish ) wins the game
Bruce Bounces ( Back ) as Newcastle win.
09/02/2021 11:26
Manchester United
6539
Language Challenge :
Dodgy Dave ( Dives ) again to win penalty.
Firmino’s Fabulous ( Finish ) wins the game
Bruce Bounces ( Back ) as Newcastle win.
09/02/2021
points
1. Manchester City and Chelsea Women’s team extended their unbeaten run last week.
2. Mohamed Salah scored with a trademark finish his first goal against Westham United and it was a gem goal indeed.
3. Melanie Leupolz scored a spectacular swerving strike to help Chelsea Women extend their unbeaten run to 33 matches. What a massive number of games.
4. Gameweeks 22 and 23 have been played so I couldn’t predict after watching the games as I was a bit busy last week.
09/02/2021 11:23
Manchester United
6539
1. Manchester City and Chelsea Women’s team extended their unbeaten run last week.
2. Mohamed Salah scored with a trademark finish his first goal against Westham United and it was a gem goal indeed.
3. Melanie Leupolz scored a spectacular swerving strike to help Chelsea Women extend their unbeaten run to 33 matches. What a massive number of games.
4. Gameweeks 22 and 23 have been played so I couldn’t predict after watching the games as I was a bit busy last week.
03/02/2021
points
Hi folks!
My predictions to matchweek 23 are:
Aston Villa 1v1 Arsenal
Burnley 1v0 Brighton
Newcastle 1v3 Southampton
Fulham 1v2 West Ham
Manchester United 1v1 Everton
Spurs 1v0 West Brom
Wolves 1v2 Leicester
Liverpool 1v1 Manchester City
Sheffield United 1v1 Chelsea
Leeds 3v2 Crystal Palace
See ya!
03/02/2021 23:58
Leeds United
399
Hi folks!
My predictions to matchweek 23 are:
Aston Villa 1v1 Arsenal
Burnley 1v0 Brighton
Newcastle 1v3 Southampton
Fulham 1v2 West Ham
Manchester United 1v1 Everton
Spurs 1v0 West Brom
Wolves 1v2 Leicester
Liverpool 1v1 Manchester City
Sheffield United 1v1 Chelsea
Leeds 3v2 Crystal Palace
See ya!
03/02/2021
points
HI:
Dodgy Dave do again to win penalty.
Firmino’s Fabulous ****** off wins the game
Bruce Bounces ball as Newcastle win.
03/02/2021 18:30
Liverpool
1
HI:
Dodgy Dave do again to win penalty.
Firmino’s Fabulous ****** off wins the game
Bruce Bounces ball as Newcastle win.
03/02/2021
points
Liverpool 3 : 2 Manchester City
03/02/2021 04:52
Liverpool
6578
Liverpool 3 : 2 Manchester City
03/02/2021
points
Matchweek 23
03/02/2021 04:52
Liverpool
6578
Matchweek 23
03/02/2021
points
Liverpool 3 : 0 Brighton
Tottenham 2 : 2 Chelsea
03/02/2021 04:49
Liverpool
6578
Liverpool 3 : 0 Brighton
Tottenham 2 : 2 Chelsea
03/02/2021
points
Newcastle 1 : 0 Crystal Palace
Burnley 1 : 4 Manchester City
Fulham 1 : 1 Leicester City
Leeds 2 : 1 Everton
Aston Villa 1 : 0 West Ham
03/02/2021 04:47
Liverpool
6578
Newcastle 1 : 0 Crystal Palace
Burnley 1 : 4 Manchester City
Fulham 1 : 1 Leicester City
Leeds 2 : 1 Everton
Aston Villa 1 : 0 West Ham
03/02/2021
points
Firmino’s Fabulous ****** wins the game.
03/02/2021 04:45
Liverpool
6578
Firmino’s Fabulous ****** wins the game.
03/02/2021
points
Dodgy Dave ***** again to win a penalty.
Bruce Bounces **** as Newcastle win.
03/02/2021 04:44
Liverpool
6578
Dodgy Dave ***** again to win a penalty.
Bruce Bounces **** as Newcastle win.
02/02/2021
points
1-Chelsea extended their unbeaten run.
2- Mohammed Salah/Liverpool scored with a trademark finish.
3- Melanie Leupolz scored a spectacular swerving strike.It was magnificent.
4-
(Matchweek 22)-------- Tottenham (2) - Chelsea (1)
(Matchweek 23) --------Liverpool (1)- Manchester City.(1)
5-
Jack: Dodgy Dave DROPPED again to win penalty.
Rich: Firmino’s Fabulous ****** wins the game
Laura: Bruce Bounces BALL as Newcastle win.
PHRASES
• Swerving strike from long-range needs a very professional and skillful experience and training.
• Prosecutor blamed him as a murder. Followed up this accusation with evidences.
P.S.
• Good Luck! Ozan Kabak in Premier League. https://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/first-team/424520-liverpool-complete-lo...
02/02/2021 17:58
Tottenham Hotspur
5560
1-Chelsea extended their unbeaten run.
2- Mohammed Salah/Liverpool scored with a trademark finish.
3- Melanie Leupolz scored a spectacular swerving strike.It was magnificent.
4-
(Matchweek 22)-------- Tottenham (2) - Chelsea (1)
(Matchweek 23) --------Liverpool (1)- Manchester City.(1)
5-
Jack: Dodgy Dave DROPPED again to win penalty.
Rich: Firmino’s Fabulous ****** wins the game
Laura: Bruce Bounces BALL as Newcastle win.
PHRASES
• Swerving strike from long-range needs a very professional and skillful experience and training.
• Prosecutor blamed him as a murder. Followed up this accusation with evidences.
P.S.
• Good Luck! Ozan Kabak in Premier League. https://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/first-team/424520-liverpool-complete-lo...
03/02/2021
points
Hasan, I think you meant either "Prosecutor blamed him as a murderer" or "Prosecutor blamed him for a murder".
03/02/2021 14:56
Liverpool
6578
Hasan, I think you meant either "Prosecutor blamed him as a murderer" or "Prosecutor blamed him for a murder".
03/02/2021
points
It's great for both Ozan and Liverpool. Let them be together and invincible for good!
03/02/2021 14:53
Liverpool
6578
It's great for both Ozan and Liverpool. Let them be together and invincible for good!
02/02/2021
points
Hi,
Here are my guesses :
Dodgy Dave ***** again to win penalty.
Firmino’s fabulous ****** wins the game
Bruce bounces **** as Newcastle win.
Hope you are fit and healthy.
02/02/2021 13:02
Manchester City
3988
Hi,
Here are my guesses :
Dodgy Dave ***** again to win penalty.
Firmino’s fabulous ****** wins the game
Bruce bounces **** as Newcastle win.
Hope you are fit and healthy.
01/02/2021
points
1.-Mancherter City and Chelsea in woman season.
2.- Mohamed Salah
3.- Melanie Leupolz
4.-Liverpool win in midweek and draw at weeken
01/02/2021 22:54
Liverpool
817
1.-Mancherter City and Chelsea in woman season.
2.- Mohamed Salah
3.- Melanie Leupolz
4.-Liverpool win in midweek and draw at weeken
01/02/2021
points
Dodgy Dave score again to win penalty.
Firmino’s Fabulous striker wins the game
Bruce Bounces save as Newcastle win.
01/02/2021 22:52
Liverpool
817
Dodgy Dave score again to win penalty.
Firmino’s Fabulous striker wins the game
Bruce Bounces save as Newcastle win.