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Jamie Vardy celebrates Leicester's ninth goal against Southampton.

Matchweek 10: Smashed

Matchweek 10: Smashed

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.

Transcript

If the listening is a bit difficult, try listening and reading at the same time.
Read the transcript and listen at the same time.

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:Let’s start our round-up of Matchweek ten with our headlines.

Headlines

Jack:Foxes on the rampage.

Rich:Leicester City smashed Southampton 9-0 away from home to equal the biggest-ever win in Premier League history. The Foxes also broke the record for the biggest-ever away win in a top-flight match. It was also Southampton’s biggest-ever defeat. The match saw hat-tricks from Ayoze Perez and Jamie Vardy.

Jack:Reds come from behind to beat Spurs.

Rich:Liverpool beat Tottenham 2-1 to stay at the top of the Premier League but had to come from a goal down after they were caught cold at the start of the match. Son Heung-Min hit the bar and Harry Kane headed the rebound home after only 48 seconds. However, a dominant Liverpool hit back through Jordan Henderson and Mohamed Salah got the winner from the spot.

Jack:United win on the road again.

Rich:Manchester United recorded their first Premier League away win since February with a 3-1 win against Norwich City. The margin of victory could have been greater but for a brilliant performance from Norwich keeper, Tim Krul. The Dutch international made a string of fine saves and saved two penalties. Scott McTominay, Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial got the goals for United. Onel Hernandez got the consolation for the Canaries and became the first Cuban to score in the Premier League. 

Jack:A great weekend in the Premier League. There were also good wins for Brighton, Manchester City and Chelsea.

Rich:I have a question for everyone. Leicester equalled the Premier League record for the biggest win at the weekend. My question is: Which team’s record did they equal and which team was it against?

Jack:If you know the answer, let us know in the comments section at the bottom of the page. 

Vocabulary alert!

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

Rich:Our six words and phrases this week are: to smash, a top-flight match, to be caught cold, a rebound, margin of victory and a string of fine saves.

Jack:Let’s start with the phrases we used to talk about the Southampton - Leicester match. We said that Leicester smashed Southampton.

Rich:When one team smashes another it means they beat them very easily but it means a bit more than that. To smash something means to destroy something. Leicester smashed Southampton - they totally destroyed them.

Jack:It was an amazing performance from Leicester and I’ve heard quite a few similar phrases being used to describe the match. You could replace smashed in the sentence with crushed, demolished, obliterated or annihilated. They all have similar meanings.

Rich:Our next phrase is a top-flight match. The top-flight is the top division in a league. The professional English league has four divisions. The top division or top flight is the Premier League.

Jack:A top-flight match is any match played in the top division since the league was created 131 years ago.

Rich:Our next two phrases come from the Liverpool - Tottenham match. The first phrase is to be caught cold. This is an idiom which means to be surprised by an opponent. In football, it’s often used to describe the first few minutes of a match.

Jack:Liverpool were caught cold at the beginning of the match when Spurs scored after 48 seconds. Liverpool were surprised by the attack and were probably not ready for it.

Rich:The next phrase is just a word. It’s a rebound. We said that Son Heung-Min hit the bar and Harry Kane headed the rebound home.

Jack:A rebound happens when something bounces back from something. In football, a rebound is when the ball bounces back to a player from a post, bar or the goalkeeper. Harry Kane headed home the rebound.

Rich:Our final two phrases come from the Norwich City - Manchester United match. The first is the margin of victory. We said the margin of victory could have been greater but for a brilliant performance from the Norwich keeper.

Jack:The margin of victory is the difference in the scores between the winning team and the losing team. Manchester United beat Norwich 3-1. The margin of victory was two or two goals.

Rich:If they had scored two more, the margin of victory would have been four or four goals.

Jack:Our final phrase this week is a string of fine saves. We often hear this phrase when a goalkeeper has a good match.

Rich:The phrase a string of means a number of events that happen one after another. You can use it generally to say things like ‘there have been a string of robberies in the village’ or ‘he’s played for a string of clubs throughout his career’.

Jack:So, a string of fine saves means the goalkeeper made a lot of saves throughout the match.

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:  to smash, a top-flight match, to be caught cold, a rebound, margin of victory and a string of fine saves.

Football Awards

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

Jack: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.

Jack:Let’s start with Player of the Week. It was a great full Premier League debut for Chelsea’s Christian Pulisic who scored twice and Scott McTominay is starting to look the part for Manchester United.

Rich:But this weekend was all about goals and Leicester City. Jamie Vardy and Ayoze Perez both got hat-tricks against Southampton and we’re going to go with Ayoze Perez who scored his first Premier League goals for the Foxes.

Jack:Team of the week is not a difficult one this week: Leicester City.

Rich:Finally, our Goal of the Week. We’re going to leave this one to you. We’re going to give you three options and you need to tell us which you think was best.

Jack:Goal number one: James Maddison for Leicester City against Southampton. A wonderful free-kick for Leicester’s eighth goal of the match.

Rich:Goal number two: Christian Pulisic for Chelsea v Burnley. His first was a brilliant individual effort.

Jack:Goal number three: Jay Rodriguez for Burnley versus Chelsea. It was just a consolation but it was a fantastic long-range strike.

Rich:OK. Those are our three options. Did you see them? Which do you think was the best? Let us know your choice and if you agree with our other weekly awards in our comments section on the Premier Skills English website.

Matchweek Prediction 

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

Rich:I went for a Liverpool win last week and got it right.

Jack:Yes, but the margin of victory was much closer than what you had predicted. Which match are you going to predict for matchweek eleven?

Rich:Right, Southampton lost 9-0 last weekend so I’m going to predict how they are going to react to that horrendous result. On Tuesday the Saints are back in action in the League Cup away at Manchester City - not a nice match to have after that kind of defeat. Then their next match in the Premier League is again away at Manchester City. Now, it might be that City get ten or eleven goals but I think strange things happen after a heavy defeat and I’m going to go for a 0-0 draw. I think they will just park the bus and shut up shop. They won’t attack will just defend for their lives. Final score: Manchester City 0-0 Southampton.

Jack:Really? You have to be joking. I don’t think City will score ten but I think they’ll get five.   

Rich:Let us know in the comments section how many goals you think City will score against Southampton.

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 10:

Watford 0-0 Bournemouth

West Ham 1-1 Sheffield Utd

Burnley 2-4 Chelsea

Brighton 3-2 Everton

Manchester City 3-0 Aston Villa

Arsenal 2-2 Crystal Palace

Liverpool 2-1 Tottenham Hotspur

Newcastle Utd 1-1 Wolves

Southampton 0-9 Leicester City

Norwich 1-3 Manchester Utd

Headlines

Foxes on the rampage

The Foxes were on fire in the rain at Southampton.

Leicester City smashed Southampton 9-0 away from home to equal the biggest-ever win in Premier League history. The Foxes also broke the record for the biggest-ever away win in a top-flight match. It was also Southampton’s biggest-ever defeat. The match saw hat-tricks from Ayoze Perez and Jamie Vardy.

Headlines

Reds come from behind to beat Spurs

Jordan Henderson and Mohamed Salah got the goals in Liverpool's win against Spurs.

Liverpool beat Tottenham 2-1 to stay at the top of the Premier League but had to come from a goal down after they were caught cold at the start of the match. Son Heung-Min hit the bar and Harry Kane headed the rebound home after only 48 seconds. However, a dominant Liverpool hit back through Jordan Henderson and Mohamed Salah got the winner from the spot.

Headlines

United win on the road again

Manchester Utd were convincing winners against Norwich despite the goalkeeper's heroics.

Manchester United recorded their first Premier League away win since February with a 3-1 win against Norwich City. The margin of victory could have been greater but for a brilliant performance from Norwich keeper, Tim Krul. The Dutch international made a string of fine saves and saved two penalties. Scott McTominay, Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial got the goals for United. Onel Hernandez got the consolation for the Canaries and became the first Cuban to score in the Premier League. 

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?

Leicester City smashed Southampton 9-0.  To smash something means to destroy something. Leicester smashed Southampton - they totally destroyed them.

The Foxes also broke the record for the biggest-ever away win in a top-flight match.  The top flight is the highest division in a league. The top division or top flight is the Premier League.

Liverpool were caught cold at the start of the match. This is an idiom which means to be surprised by an opponent.

Harry Kane headed the rebound home.  A rebound is when the ball bounces back to a player from a post, bar or the goalkeeper. 

The margin of victory could have been greater. The margin of victory is the difference in the scores between the winning team and the losing team.   

He made a string of fine saves and saved two penalties. The phrase a string of means a number of events that happen one after another. The goalkeeper made a lot of saves throughout the match. 

Chelsea won 4-2 away at Burnley. Christian Pulisic got two of the goals.

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?

Ayoze Perez scored a hat-trick for Leicester against Southampton.

Player of the Week: Ayoze Perez (Leicester City)

Team of the Week: Leicester City

Goal of the Week: Look at the three options from Matchweek 10 and let us know which goal was best in the comments section!

Goal 1

James Maddison for Leicester City against Southampton.

Goal 2

Christian Pulisic for Chelsea versus Burnley.

Goal 3

Jay Rodriguez for Burnley v Chelsea.

The Big Match

Manchester City v Southampton

How many goals will Manchester CIty score against Southampton this week?

The big match this weekend is Manchester City against Southampton. Rich thinks it will finish goalless! 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?

Leicester equalled the Premier League's biggest ever win and broke the record for the biggest away win in top flight history against Southampton.

Jack and Rich have spoken about Matchweek 10 in the Premier League. Now it's your turn! Have a look at the questions and write your answers in the comments section below.

  1. Rich and Jack chose Leicester City's Ayoze Perez as Player of the Week. Do you agree? 
  2. Jack and Rich selected Leicester City as their Team of the Week. Do you agree?
  3. Rich and Jack picked three goals for the Goal of the Week award? Did you see them? Which do you think was best?
  4. Use this week's vocabulary: Have you ever seen a team smash another team by nine goals? What's the biggest margin of victory you've ever seen at a football match? 
  5. Can you use 'a string of fine saves', 'top-flight match' or 'to be caught cold' 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

hsn's picture
hsn
07/01/2022
TR
5525
points

Phrases
• Some producer countries now on the rampage, they tested many newly developed weapons in local wars of the the Middle East.
• The politician was caught cold when public reactions expanded through media at last week speech .
• The margin of annual profit could have been wider but for bad effects of pandemic prevented it.
• String of disasters wrecked this place.
• Nothing convincing them to stay here, they are on the road again and looking for a new place to live.


hsn's picture
hsn
07/01/2022 17:57
Turkey
Tottenham Hotspur
5525

Phrases
• Some producer countries now on the rampage, they tested many newly developed weapons in local wars of the the Middle East.
• The politician was caught cold when public reactions expanded through media at last week speech .
• The margin of annual profit could have been wider but for bad effects of pandemic prevented it.
• String of disasters wrecked this place.
• Nothing convincing them to stay here, they are on the road again and looking for a new place to live.

elghoul's picture
elghoul
29/10/2019
DZ
3988
points

I would prefer to distinguish this week a goalkeeper with Tim Krul been awarded as best player.

Leicester team are being great this season. Another surprising place in the table with qualification to the European matches?

I was not happy to see one of those goals. Just Liverpool vs Spurs ordinary goals.

The biggest margin of victory I have heard of is that of Belcourt against Birtouta.

Krul's string of fine saves didn't help Norwich getting a win against Man U.

Reds were caught cold but they dominate the match against Spurs psychologically bottom on the field. Time for Tottenham to accept Pochettino and Eriksen departures or never be playing top-flight matches.

Prediction City 3 Southampton 1.


elghoul's picture
elghoul
29/10/2019 15:08
Algeria
Manchester City
3988

I would prefer to distinguish this week a goalkeeper with Tim Krul been awarded as best player.

Leicester team are being great this season. Another surprising place in the table with qualification to the European matches?

I was not happy to see one of those goals. Just Liverpool vs Spurs ordinary goals.

The biggest margin of victory I have heard of is that of Belcourt against Birtouta.

Krul's string of fine saves didn't help Norwich getting a win against Man U.

Reds were caught cold but they dominate the match against Spurs psychologically bottom on the field. Time for Tottenham to accept Pochettino and Eriksen departures or never be playing top-flight matches.

Prediction City 3 Southampton 1.

Rafael Robson's picture
Rafael Robson
29/10/2019
BR
615
points

Hi, I agree with your choices this week and I am going to pick Jay Rodriguez's goal for Burnley as the Goal of the week.
I was reading that the previous top-flight match score record was Man Utd 9-0 Ipsiwich Town, but the biggest margin of victory I have ever seen is the incredible USA 13 x 0 Thailand, in the last Women's World Cup.
I see Rich's point about Man City vs Southampton but I think the Citizens will score at least five goals.


Rafael Robson's picture
Rafael Robson
29/10/2019 09:52
Brazil
Tottenham Hotspur
615

Hi, I agree with your choices this week and I am going to pick Jay Rodriguez's goal for Burnley as the Goal of the week.
I was reading that the previous top-flight match score record was Man Utd 9-0 Ipsiwich Town, but the biggest margin of victory I have ever seen is the incredible USA 13 x 0 Thailand, in the last Women's World Cup.
I see Rich's point about Man City vs Southampton but I think the Citizens will score at least five goals.

Rich's picture
Rich
29/10/2019
ES
594
points

Hi Rafael,

I was talking about these big scores with Jack yesterday. We were discussing whether it is maybe a little cruel to continue scoring goals after a certain point. Do you think teams should always try to score as many goals as possible or should they stop as they don't want to humiliate their opponents? What do you think?

Rich - The Premier Skills English Team


Rich's picture
Rich
29/10/2019 10:38
Spain
Liverpool
594

Hi Rafael,

I was talking about these big scores with Jack yesterday. We were discussing whether it is maybe a little cruel to continue scoring goals after a certain point. Do you think teams should always try to score as many goals as possible or should they stop as they don't want to humiliate their opponents? What do you think?

Rich - The Premier Skills English Team

Rafael Robson's picture
Rafael Robson
05/11/2019
BR
615
points

Hi Rich,

Thanks for your interesting question. I am not sure what would be the 'fair play' in this case, especially when it comes to traditional teams playing against the smaller ones. I think that when a team is already winning a match and starts to pass the ball back and forth, without any objective, or to dribble excessively, it is disrespectful and can be considered even more humiliating than scoring several goals.


Rafael Robson's picture
Rafael Robson
05/11/2019 11:42
Brazil
Tottenham Hotspur
615

Hi Rich,

Thanks for your interesting question. I am not sure what would be the 'fair play' in this case, especially when it comes to traditional teams playing against the smaller ones. I think that when a team is already winning a match and starts to pass the ball back and forth, without any objective, or to dribble excessively, it is disrespectful and can be considered even more humiliating than scoring several goals.

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