This weekend sees the Gunners take on Spurs; Arsenal vs Tottenham Hotspur in the North London Derby – a massive game for both teams. We feature this game in this week’s podcast. We also have stories from the football world this week, a quiz question, and some English for football phrases.  For those who wish to practise their English, there is a transcript below to help with reading and listening and if you have questions or comments, email us at:  [email protected] (Damian = DF, Damon = DB).

Learn English Through Football Podcast: Gunners v Spurs – 2017 North London Derby

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Transcript of the show

DB: You are listening to Languagecaster’s football-language podcast. Hello everyone. How are you? My name is Damon, I’m based in Tokyo and it’s a wonderful Tuesday here weather-wise, sunny but fresh. First of all, apologies for the lateness of this week’s podcast. Both Damian in London and myself here in Japan were pretty busy this weekend and couldn’t find time to do a live recording. So, today it’s just me, with a slightly shorter podcast.

You’re listening to languagecaster.com (Chinese)

DB: Yes, you are listening to languagecaster.com and that message was in Chinese. Now, on the show we will start with a few news stories from the world of football in the good, the bad and the ugly.

Good

DB: Let’s start with good. The final World Cup qualifiers took place this week and so well done to Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, Peru, Australia and Croatia who all made it through their two-legged play-offs to qualify for the finals taking place in Russia next summer. It was a huge night in Lima for the Peruvians who qualified for the first time since 1982 and their fans celebrated so much that the seismology department in the country – this watches for earthquakes – suggested that the earthquake alarm went off due to these celebrations. We’ve already mentioned the fact that the Danes have made it through to the finals and they did so in style after thrashing Ireland 5-1 away in Dublin thanks to a masterclass from their star player Christian Eriksen who scored a hat-trick. Painful for an Ireland fan but it really was a wonderful performance from Eriksen who scored 11 goals in the qualifying campaign.

Bad

DB: Now bad. Obviously it was bad for those teams who did not make it through the play-offs: Ireland, New Zealand, Honduras, Greece and Northern Ireland but perhaps especially bad for four-time winners of the World Cup who will not be taking part in a World Cup for the first time since 1958 – a remarkable 60 year gap. The