Learn English Through Football Podcast: 2024-25: Dark Arts

In this football language podcast we focus on the Manchester City v Arsenal match last weekend, and discuss the term ‘dark arts’. 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.

The Dark Arts – Manchester City 2-2 Arsenal

DB: You’re listening to Languagecaster.com’s football language podcast. Hello everyone and welcome to the show for all those who love the beautiful game of football and who want to improve their English. My name is Damon and I’m based in a slightly cooler Japan – finally, autumn is just about here! I guess it is also a bit cooler in the UK too, where Damian, the other  half of the Languagecaster team is based. I hear there is a lot of rain about too!

Today’s Show

We’ll be hearing from Damian later in the show as he takes a look at some upcoming games and our predictions table. Last week two of Damian’s five-a-side teammates gave their predictions. I wonder how they did.

And in just a minute, I’ll be talking about the Manchester City v Arsenal game last weekend, which was a really entertaining match for the neutral. We’ll focus on the phrase ‘dark arts’. But before that, here’s a message from one of our listeners.

Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Mongolian)

DB: Thank you for that message. Listener, do you know what language it was? We’ll have the answer if you don’t at the end of the show.

Dark Arts

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DB: Right let’s kick off with a look at the Premier League Man City versus Arsenal match, which ended 2-2 after a late-late equaliser by Man City defender Stones in the dying seconds of additional time. It was a great match to watch if you were not a supporter of the two teams. There was a lot to enjoy, including great goals, battles between players, yellow cards, a sending off, and real needle between the two teams.

Needle

‘To needle someone‘ is to annoy them, to make them angry and if there is needle in a match, it means that the two sets of players are making each other irritated and angry. This usually results in lots of small fouls, or niggling fouls. These are not serious fouls, but maybe trips, pushes, catching an opponent slightly late, etc.

There was definitely needle in the match between the 2024 champions and the runners up. Manchester City players after the match accused the Arsenal players of using the dark arts and not wanting to play. Here is what John Stones,