In this football language post we look at a headline from the Daily Telegraph newspaper about the London derby between Arsenal and Chelsea. You can see more explanations of newspaper headlines here and don’t forget we have hundreds more explanations of football language in our football glossary. If you have questions or comments about this or any other phrase then email us at: admin@languagecaster.com.
Football Newspaper Headlines: Fans Turn on Arsenal After Dismal Start
There are two football headlines in this report from the Telegraph newspaper in the UK about the London derby between Arsenal and Chelsea. ‘Lukaku enjoys dream debut‘ can be found at the bottom of an image of the Chelsea striker celebrating his goal on his first game back. The phrase ‘dream debut‘ can often be found when describing a player doing really well in their first game (their debut) for their new club – ‘a dream start’; ‘went like a dream’ and of course ‘like a dream come true’ are other phrases with dream that can also be used in football. The verb ‘enjoys‘ is in the present form which is quite common in sports headlines (and commentary) and suggests a sense of immediacy.
In the second headline, ‘Fans Turn on Arsenal After Dismal Start‘ the focus moves away from Lukaku and instead looks at the defeated side Arsenal. Again the verb is in a present form ‘turn on‘ which here means to become aggressive or hostile towards someone – in this case the fans are very angry with their team because of the poor performance. The adjective ‘dismal‘ means that something is really poor and there is a suggestion that there is little chance of this situation changing. The dismal start in this headline refers to the start of the new 2021-22 season in which The Gunners – Arsenal – have lost both of their games, conceding four goals and still not managing to score a goal. So, we could paraphrase the headline in the following way: Arsenal’s poor start to the new season has made their fans angry.
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