In this week’s review section, we look back at stories from the North London and Merseyside derbies, as well as news from bottom of the table side Bolton. You can listen to these and other stories on our weekly podcast and can find explanations of key vocabulary in bold below, or highlighted in blue.
Good
A good week for both of our respective teams as Damon’s Liverpool defeated city rivals Everton 2-0, while my team Tottenham beat Arsenal 2-1. Both games were full of incidents with the Merseyside derby suffering from a host of poor refereeing decisions that saw Everton midfielder Jack Rodwell receive a red a card when he probably should not have even seen yellow. The general feeling after the game was that the referee Martin Atkinson lacked consistency throughout the highly-charged atmosphere and ruined the game as a spectacle. The atmosphere was also electric at White Hart Lane as the home side continued their impressive run to score a well-deserved victory over their North London rivals. That’s four wins in a row for Spurs and it now looks like both Liverpool and Tottenham will be battling it out for the fourth Champions League spot come the end of the season.
Bad
Bad for Premier League side Bolton as they continue to leak goals and are now on a six-game losing streak. The bottom of the Premier League side’s latest defeat came at the hands of Chelsea, who put five past the Trotters. In those last six games, the side from the north west of England have let in 21 goals and only managed to find the net themselves five times. Boss, Owen Coyle’s position must be under threat as his brand of football does not seem to be working at the club. While it was bad for Bolton it was great for Lampard, who proved he is still a force in midfield by scoring a hatrick.
Ugly
There was more ugly chanting from football ‘fans’ at the weekend in England with Spurs and Arsenal fans both taunting their opponents with distasteful songs. Both clubs have now come out and said that they will ban any fans caught singing abusive songs at their respective grounds. A good response to some ugliness.
Vocabulary
the Merseyside derby: The match played between Liverpool and Everton
not have even seen yellow: The tackle did not even deserve a yellow card
the highly-charged: Electric, the atmosphere was really good
as a spectacle: As a show, as entertainment
leak goals: allow a lot of goals to be scored against you, let in a lot of goals
losing streak: a run of losing games, a number of games with no win
put (1, 2, 3…) past: score (1, 2, 3…) goals against
find the net: score a goal
a hatrick: three goals scored by the same player
taunting their opponents: Making fun of their rivals
distasteful: nasty, horrible, in bad taste
