Football Phrase of the Week: (to) Sweep Aside

This week's football phrase is the verb phrase to sweep aside. This phrase describes the Manchester derby played on Sunday. You can read the transcript for this post 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

https://learnenglishthroughfootball.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/weekly.phrase.sweep_.aside_.150925.mp3



DB: Welcome to LearnEnglishThroughFootball.com's weekly football language podcast. My name's Damon and I am one half of the languagecaster team. Over here in Tokyo, where I am based, it is slightly less hot than a week ago, but still over 30 degrees Celsius. How about where you live listener? I hear it is cooler in London, where Damian, the other half of the team is based.



Turning to football, Haaland was certainly very cool as he scored two in Manchester City's 3-0 victory over Manchester United. We will look at a phrase that can describe that match in this weekly football phrase podcast.



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DF: Yes you are listening to Languagecaster.com, also known as LearnEnglishThroughFootball.com, and that message was in Turkish.

(to) Sweep Aside

DB: OK, the weekly football phrase on this podcast is to sweep aside. If we look in a dictionary, we can see that the verb sweep means to clean the floor using a brush or to move quickly and smoothly. To sweep aside in football means to easily beat: imagine just sweeping or pushing the other team to the side as you go on to victory. When used it also implies the opposition did not put up a big challenge.



Here is the headline from The Guardian: 'Haaland doubles up as City sweep United aside in Manchester derby'



Notice we can split the verb phrase - sweep a team aside. We can also say sweep aside a team. Here is the BBC talking about Arsenal's easy 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest: 'As they swept aside Nottingham Forest 3-0 with five of those new signings starting, the Gunners showed why such aggressive recruitment was justified.'



Because you use a brush to sweep, or clean, the floor, we can also alter this phrase by saying to brush aside. This is perhaps not as dramatic as sweep aside. Maybe a 2-0 easy win rather than 3 or 4-0.



http://gty.im/2234864621

(to) Sweep Home

DB: Another phrase using the verb 'sweep' in football is to sweep home.



To sweep home means to score: home is used to mean the goal. It describes a shot that has been hit first time and maybe with the side of the foot. To sweep the ball home also suggests that the ball does not leave the ground and is not hit with too much power – there is a sense that it is placed into the net with skill.



Here is an example from a report on a Swansea v Burnley match in 2025: Brownhill swept home the opener in the 3rd minute, before Anthony smashed home the second of the game midway through the first-half...'



We have swept home the opener and smashed home the second: smash home means to score with a powerful shot.



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DB: Yes, you are listening to languagecaster.