Football Phrase of the Week: To close in on the title

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Football Phrase of the Week: To close in on the title

In this football phrase of the week we explain the expression, ‘to close in on the title‘ after Liverpool’s win at Manchester City at the weekend. 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.

To close in on the title

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DF: Hello everyone. This is Damian from the Languagecaster team and I hope you are all doing well. Welcome to this week’s football phrase which of course is when we look back at some of the language from the weekend’s football. And today, much to Damons delight, we are going to take a look at the phrase, ‘to close in on the title‘ after Liverpool won away at the Premier League holders Manchester City on Sunday.

It is still only February and there are 11 games left for teams to play until the end of the season but it looks like the Premier League title race is over. Arsenal are currently in second position but after a shock home defeat to West Ham on Saturday (0-1) this was then followed by league leaders Liverpool’s 2-0 away win at Manchester City. And this means there is now a gap of 11 points between the top two sides. Arsenal do have a game in hand which of course means that they have played one match fewer and they still have to play Liverpool. But even if they win these two games they will still be six points behind the leaders. Added to this, is the fact that Liverpool have only lost one league game all season and do not look as if they will slip up, while Arsenal have lost three times and have not played as well as last season; they are not chasing Liverpool down. In fact, the leaders have now extended their lead at the top and they really don’t look like throwing away their lead.

Of course, Liverpool have not been crowned champions just yet but the feeling here in the UK among fans and pundits is that the title race is over and Liverpool are getting closer to winning the Premier League. And this is where we can use today’s football expression: to close in on the title.

To close in on something means to get nearer to something and in this case Liverpool are getting nearer (and nearer) to the league title. If we use this expression there is a sense of inevitability about what is going to happen; so Liverpool are almost certainly going to win the league this year. It would be a huge shock if the Reds were to lose the title in the position they now find themselves in.

So, in our example today we are talking about the title – to close in on the title – but we can also use this verb phrasewith other things in football that are about to happen. For example, Tottenham are closing in on signing a new striker – and this means the club are about to (almost certain to) sign a new attacking player.

We can also use this phrase within a game itself – the team were closing in on its first win of the season suggests that this team is winning (maybe by more than one goal) with very little time remaining in the game. They are closing in on the win or closing in on the three points – they are going to win a game.

Now, currently around Europe we can see that PSG are 13 points clear at the top with only nine games remaining. Celtic are also 13 points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership, while Bayern Munich are eight points clear with only 11 games to play in the Bundesliga in Germany. So, we can say that all three of these clubs are closing in on the title – they are almost certainly going to win or to clinch their domestic league championship title.

Here’s an example from the Racing Post newspaper in England:

Example: Liverpool closing in on Premier League title after easing past Manchester City (Racing Post February 23 2025)

So, Liverpool easily defeated City and they look like they are going to win the Premier League title.

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Can you think of any more examples like this? And how would you say this expression, ‘to close in on the title‘ in another language that you know? Let us know by dropping us a line at admin@languagecaster.com.

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Yes, that message was in Italian. Enjoy all the football and we’ll see you again later on in the week in our regular weekly podcast show when we look ahead to the weekend’s fixtures. And we also have an interview with a special guest! Bye bye.

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