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Learn English Through Football Podcast: 2024-25 Premier League Season Preview
In this football language podcast we have our 2024-25 Premier League season preview. Which teams will be challenging for the title? How about the top four? Will the promoted teams avoid relegation? Who will be the top scorer and of course how will our favourite teams Liverpool and Tottenham get on this season? You can read the transcript for this podcast below, while you can also check out our glossary of footballing phrases here and visit our site to access all our previous posts and podcasts. If you have any suggestions or questions then you can contact us at admin@languagecaster.com.
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2024-25 Premier League Season Preview
DB: You’re listening to Languagecaster.com’s football language podcast, for all those who love the beautiful game and who want to improve their English. My name’s Damon and I’m recording this in Tokyo, while the other side of the world in London is Damian. Hi there Damian!
DF: Hello Damon, it’s great to hear from you – how are you doing?
DB: Not bad at all. I’m looking forward to the restart of club football this weekend. How about you? What have you been up to?
DF: Well, I’ve just got back from a short break in Ireland; we went to the beautiful west coast of Cork where the sun was shining and the skies were blue. I am back in London where the skies are still blue and the temperature is around 25 degrees – it’s really lovely weather here. How about in Tokyo, what’s the weather like there?
DB: That sounds absolutely brilliant! The trip to Cork and the lovely weather. Here in Japan, the weather is brutally hot and we also have a typhoon dumping rain on us today, so hot, humid, and windy.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in French).
DF: That message, or stinger, was in French and you’ll hear lots more of these throughout the show. Try and guess what languages they are! Don’t worry if you don’t, know you’ll be able to see them in our transcript to the show by coming along to the site at languagecaster.com. Right Damon, what’s on the show today?
DB: Well, as I said I’m looking forward to the new season, and that’s what we will do on the show today. We will make some predictions about the season in the Premier League. We will guess the winners, who will be relegated and also talk a little about our teams – for you, Tottenham Hotspur and for me Liverpool.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (An Arsenal fan).
Predictions
DB. Right, let’s kick off our new season with our 2024-25 Premier League Season Preview. Damian who do you predict will win the Premier League?
Winners
DF: Well, it is hard to look past Manchester City who of course have won the past four titles – and that’s a league record. They have not really strengthened their squad too much – in fact they sold World Cup winner Julián Álvarez to Atlético Madrid – but they will still be the team to beat.
Their nearest rivals in the past two seasons have been Arsenal and many are tipping them to do well again and maybe even taking the next step and winning the title. As a Spurs fan I would not be too happy about that but they will definitely be challenging. Liverpool have a new manager, Aston Villa will have to worry about the demands of a Champions League campaign, while Chelsea and Manchester United are still a little unstable. Honestly, I can’t see anyone else challenging for the title apart from the top two from last year and so I am going for City to win again.
DB: I agree with you. The teams around Manchester City have not done enough to improve, and Manchester City have the experience, the squad, and the manager to see them win the long, league race. How about relegation? What do you think?
Relegation
DF: Last season all three promoted sides (that’s Burnley, Sheffield United and Luton Town) were relegated which shows the gap between the Premier League and the Championship. I wonder will the same thing happen again this season with Southampton, Leicester City and Ipswich Town who have been out of the top flight for over 20 years? Welcome back Ipswich! I think at least two of them will go straight back down with maybe only Southampton staying up.
Leicester are facing a points deduction which will make it even harder to stay up, while Ipswich have been promoted twice in two seasons so maybe the quality of the Premier League will prove to be too difficult. Nottingham Forest and Everton have both struggled in recent years but this season I think the Toffees (that’s Everton) will be fine but Forest won’t. So, my three teams to be relegated are: Ipswich; Leicester and Nottingham Forest.
DB: Again, I can’t disagree. I might have had Leicester to survive but if any points are taken off them, they will find it really difficult. I think it will be Ipswich bottom, Nottingham next to bottom, and Leicester taking the last relegation spot.
And your team?
Tottenham – Season Preview
DF: Right, what do I think of Tottenham’s chances for the new season? This will be Australian manager Ange Postecoglou’s second season after finishing fifth on 66 points last year and I think most Spurs fans were pleased with that especially as we had sold our record goal scorer and club icon Harry Kane. Football under the previous managers had not been exciting to watch and although we had some downs and a huge injury list, there was clearly some progress in the way that we played.
There is a clear transfer strategy of buying young players and we have spent a lot of money on two 18-year olds: Lucas Bergvall from Djurgarden in Sweden and Archie Gray from Leeds – Gray cost over £30m – and they have already impressed in pre-season. We have also spent a lot of money on a new number 9 – Dominic Solanke from Bournemouth – and are still looking for more signings. The club have also released, sold or loaned out over ten players so it is clear that the manager is shaping the squad to suit his playing style.
Now, last season we only played 41 games after early defeats in both Cups and no European football. This season we are in the Europa League where we are guaranteed at least eight games in the new-look tournament. Hopefully we will also have a cup run which means that we will have over 50 games so it is clear that we need a bigger squad. We have not won a trophy since 2008 and the fans are hungry for success – could this finally be the year?
I don’t think we are going to be challenging for the league title but maybe with a lucky draw we might do well in the cups. However, I don’t think we’ll do that well in the Europa League as it is such a difficult tournament to win with so many games and of course these games take place on Thursday nights which are not ideal at all. If we finish in the top four it will be great and who knows maybe this year fifth place will guarantee Champions League football if the other English sides do well this season. So, a continuation of the progress from last year and maybe aiming for 70+ points and a cup run with a couple of good European nights would be a good season.
Liverpool – Season Predictions
DB: Very sensible wishes there. A cup run is great for the fans, and I’m hoping Liverpool get some more silverware this season, after winning the League Cup last year. Maybe the same again? Top four is probably a minimum hope, but with a new manager and no new signings, that will not be easy If Zubimendi from Real Sociedad had accepted Liverpool’s offer, I would be a lot happier. A big signing, a new face, could have changed the atmosphere in the changing room I think. This squad, despite being full of quite a number of new signings from the previous year or two, may just feel a bit… tired.
I’d take…
So, I’d take a domestic cup, a last 16 in the Champions League and a top four finish!
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (Italian fan)
Other Predictions
DF: Now, as regular listeners will know we usually run a predictions competition here on the Learn English Through Football Podcast and we are going to bring them back again for this season but with a slight difference. Both myself and Damon will continue to battle each other every week and we’ll be taking on a guest as well. So, if you’d like to participate as a guest predictor then drop us a line and let us know your scores.
Join in anytime
Of course you can play along at any time – simply add a comment at the end of this post or you can contact us on the forum. We’ll have five games each week from different leagues around the world and remember, it’s three points for a win and one point for the right result. And this week’s guest predictor is Brendan who is a Manchester United fan.
| League | Match | Damian | Damon | Guest |
| Premier League | Manchester United v Fulham | 2-0 | 3-1 | 3-1 |
| Premier League | Ipswich v Liverpool | 0-2 | 0-1 | 0-1 |
| La Liga | Valencia v Barcelona | 0-1 | 0-1 | 1-1 |
| Serie A | Genoa v Inter | 0-1 | 1-2 | 0-2 |
| Premier League | Chelsea v Manchester City | 1-2 | 1-1 | 0-2 |
So, it’s the opening games of the season in the Premier League, La Liga and Serie A and we feature games from all three of these leagues. First up in the Premier League on Friday night sees Manchester United take on Fulham; remember, we discussed this phrase in the last podcast – to take on another team means to play against them or to face them. I think United will be too good for Fulham even though the Londoners have bought lots of new players. 2-0 to United for me.
Chelsea v Man City
Two other games from the Premier League see newly-promoted Ipswich Town take on Liverpool. I don’t think there will be any shocks here as the Reds will win 2-0. On Sunday Chelsea host the champions Manchester City and even though again Chelsea have been busy in the transfer market I don’t think they’ll trouble City. 2-1 to the champions for me. Now, the champions of Serie A, Inter, travel to Genoa on Sunday where they should be too strong for their hosts. I’m going to go for a 1-0 away win. And in La Liga Valencia host Barcelona in their first game of the season. Barca, of course, are under new manager Hansi Flick. I think they will have too much for Valencia and should win 1-0.
Let us know what you think the scores are going to be in our predictions this week.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (Dutch fan)
Glossary
Remember, that here at Languagecaster’s site you can find out more about some of the words and phrases that we have already discussed today. We also have hundreds more football-language expressions. Just come along to our football-language glossary and take a look.
https://languagecaster.com/football-language-glossary/ Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Turkish).
Contact
DB: Thanks Damian, and if you have any questions or comments about any of the words and phrases from today or indeed any other football language then drop us an email at admin@languagecaster.com. You can also find us on social media – we’ve got lots of our podcasts on YouTube; and don’t forget we also have a football-language forum where you can ask and answer any questions you have on the language of football and post your predictions too. Oh and don’t forget to subscribe to our football-language podcasts.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Polish).
Goodbye
DF: Yes, that message was in Polish and thanks everyone for listening today. Don’t forget there’s a transcript for this podcast with lots of vocabulary support – come along and take a look. You can also listen along to the podcast while reading the transcript on your phone. Click on the comment icon there. We think it is a great resource for learners and teachers of English especially for practising your listening skills.
Let us know if you hear any of the phrases from today’s show of course – in any language. Enjoy all the football this weekend and we’ll be back soon with some more football language. Bye bye!
DB: Thanks for listening! Ta-ra!
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