In this week’s show we focus on the race for the top four spots in the Premier league. These places secure a berth in the Champions League. So, we at the end of the show, for our predictions, we have three games all featuring teams fighting for third or fourth spot – Arsenal, manchester United, Manchester City and Liverpool. In our football language section, in the middle of the show, we have some phrases used to talk about the race for the title or the top four places, including to pip at the post and looking over their shoulder. And we start the show with news from the week of football related to the scramble for the last Champions League places. Read the transcript for the show in our post below (Damian = DF, Damon = DB).

Learn English Through Football Podcast: The Top Four Race

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Transcript of the show

DB: You’re listening to Languagecaster’s football-language podcast. Hello everyone, my name is Damon and I am back in Japan after a short trip to China last week. Now, last week I couldn’t make the show because of that trip and this week, Damian is also tied up with work and can’t join us. Apologies! This is recorded after the Saturday round of games, too, and there were some big results there – Manchester City stuffing Crystal Palace 5-0, Hull losing at home and dropping in to the relegation zone, and of course on Friday night Tottenham falling to a 1-0 loss at West ham.

Line up

DB:, Now, on this week’s show we’ll be focusing on the final run in and the race for the third and fourth spots in the Premier League. It looks like Chelsea and Tottenham have sewn up first and second, with Tottenham still in with an outside chance of pipping Chelsea at the post – more on that phrase later. So, in our first section, we’ll have a few stories connected with the fight for the Champions League spots and the title. After that, we have two phrases that you may hear to describe the situation at this stage of the season – to pip at the post and looking over their shoulders. And we’ll finish with three games involving teams hoping to squeeze into the top four.

DB: Yes, you are listening to languagecaster.com and that message was in French. If you would like to record the message “You are listening to languagecaster” in your language then just send it on to us here at [email protected].

Good

DB: OK, I’m going to kick off with the good from last week and it was good for the top three teams in the Premier League who all won – Chelsea saw off a spirited Everton 3-0. Tottenham finally guaranteed a finish above their north London rivals Arsenal with a 2-0 derby win – the first time they will finish above the Gunners for over 20 years! And Liverpool clinched a 1-0 away win at Watford with an incredible Can overhead volley. What a cracker that was!

Bad

DB: Now, I’ve mentioned the top three sides won last weekend, but the two Manchester clubs will be rueing dropping points and passing...