he left the training base on crutches yesterday that has been for a scan marcus smith was expected to start, so if it does not start, it will scupper the plans. he start, so if it does not start, it will scupper the plans.- will scupper the plans. he is already without _ will scupper the plans. he is already without owen - will scupper the plans. he is| already without owen farrell will scupper the plans. he is - already without owen farrell for personal reasons and elsewhere in the midfield, manu tuilagi and ollie lawrence are injured. lots more steve borthwick to ponder and an update on myth, industry is —— injuries expected in the next few hours and we will get more clarity on whether it available road. england have strong options at fly—half, the hugely experienced george ford, but also 21—year—old

finn smith who has been in brilliant form for his club and if marcus smith is to be ruled out, his namesake is set to make his debut. either starting off the bench on saturday. the full run of midweek premier league fixtures starts on tuesday. there are five games to look forward to later. both arsenal and aston villa have designs on second place in the table. arsenal have gone three premier league away matches without a victory and mikel arteta knows nottingham forest will be a challenge. we can manage and optimise the preparation and that's what we try to do against a team, and i know the manager well and he will be very competitive and we had some bad experiences there in the last two seasons, so we will have to be really good to beat them. the norwegian striker girling harland has been out having scored

14 goals prior to that, pep guardiola has confirmed he will be available and said he is an important playerfor available and said he is an important player for manchester city. something of an understatement. he also revealed his team pretty much have a clean bill of health which could be crucial for the remainder of the title race. liverpool are top, city at second and it's a scenario that is in former england manager glenn hoddle. city have had a little bit of a wobble and have their best players back again but they have the strongest and deeper squad and arsenal are the same. spurs have gone through that lack of injury and it's a long season. and i've always said it's the grand national 38 games, and it used to be 42 in my day but it's not a sprint. there's teams going through good spells and bad spells and it's how you react from the bad. and this is where

arsenal have to show their mettle. it's an important victory for them last weekend and they have to back it up with what is a tough game tonight. it up with what is a tough game toniaht. ~ ., it up with what is a tough game toniaht. a, ., , ., ., tonight. more from glenn hoddle on the 630 programme _ tonight. more from glenn hoddle on the 630 programme later— tonight. more from glenn hoddle on the 630 programme later today - tonight. more from glenn hoddle on the 630 programme later today on | tonight. more from glenn hoddle on i the 630 programme later today on bbc news. everton s appeal hearing over their record io—point deduction for breaching financial rules will begin on wednesday. the hearing is expected to last three days and bbc sport understands an outcome should be revealed by mid—february. the club admitted the breach but said they were shocked and disappointed at the severity of the punishment. the toffees were handed the biggest sporting sanction in premier league history in november by an independent commission. sean dyche 5 side are facing another possible points deduction after they were charged with breaching rules for a second time earlier this month. he has been back in the news marcus rashford, but not for his performaces on the pitch. his club manchester united say he "has taken responsibility for his actions" after reports he was seen out in northern ireland last wednesday and thursday, days before their fa cup tie. he then missed training at united on friday after reporting ill, and didn't play in sunday's cup

win over newport. united said in a statement... "this has been dealt with as an internal disciplinary matter, which is now closed." rashford is back in training and is available for selection for the premier league trip to wolves on thursday. going out for a drink or a night out is something every footballer should do and will do and i have no problem with that whatsoever. they need to enjoy themselves but it's all about choices and timing and i said this after the manchester city game where we got beaten at home a few months ago and he went out that night for his birthday and i said, we had a game against newcastle on the wednesday in the league cup and i said, choose your time. wednesday in the league cup and i said, choose yourtime. manchester united havejust said, choose yourtime. manchester united have just had a winter break and a couple of weeks off so there was a better moment for him to choose to go out, so i would say go out, have your moment where you relax with your friends but your timing has to be right. you were manaued timing has to be right. you were managed by _ timing has to be right. you were managed by one _ timing has to be right. you were managed by one of— timing has to be right. you were managed by one of the - timing has to be right. you were managed by one of the greatest| timing has to be right. you were l managed by one of the greatest of all time, so what would he have done with him? he all time, so what would he have done with him? ., ., ., with him? he would have had given him a dressing _ with him? he would have had given him a dressing down _

with him? he would have had given him a dressing down but _ with him? he would have had given him a dressing down but said - with him? he would have had given| him a dressing down but said similar things. make sure you do it at the right moment or time. no one ever says to a football player you cannot go out but when you have a game three days later, marcus himself knows, he's an experienced player now, but he's done a couple of times in the last few months and what happens is i've always seen marcus is really responsible, good professional, someone who works hard every day and he's going through a dip in form at this moment in time but it's happened once and now it's twice, and sometimes it can become your personality if you are not careful, if you do it too many times people will say, what is happening in his life? he needs to relax, calm down, choose when to go out and get back to playing football at the level we know he can. they've sacked their manager, suffered their worst home defeat in history, but hosts ivory coast are still on course at the africa cup of nations. and to reach the quarter finals, they beat the defending champions senegal on penalties. it was the holders, having won all their matches so far, who took the lead thanks to habib diallo's early strike.

it looked as though their winning streak would go on, until a franck kessie penalty levelled matters with less than five minutes to go. nothing to separate the teams after extra time, so penalties settled it. moussa niakhate's missed spot kick proved the difference as kessie stepped up once again to send ivory coast into the last eight. these celebrations in the capital abidjan reflective of the rough ride the team have had so far, with striker sebastian haller saying the last days were tough for them after coach jean—louis gasset was sacked. assistant emerse fae is now in charge, and these fans who watched a 4—0 group stage defeat to equatorial guinea only a week ago now are believing again. it was an amazing day and it's a relief for us because we were not believing it, but today is that day. we are very happy. very happy. it was unbelievable.

at the beginning of the day, we were not sure to win, we were not sure to win, and that's it. ivory coast is back. i'm feeling great. an incredible match. incredible feeling and we leave - here, and today the elephants have made us proud. six out of the eight quarter finalists are set, so stilljust two more last 16 ties to play on tuesday. first mali and burkina faso play for the right to meet ivory coast in the last eight. then it's pre tournament favourites morocco against south africa. the world cup semi finalists will be without sofiane boufal, and maybe also hakim ziyech for a match against the only team to beat them since qatar. the asian cup is a day behind afcon they have four more last 16 ties the first of which is over uzbekistan 2—1 thailand. the winners will face hosts qatar in the qurter finals. later perhaps a game that many

would have thought might happen later in the tournament. saudi arabia will take on south korea. two years after the actual event took place, medals will be awarded for the winter olympics team figure—skating, with the united states receiving the gold after russian athlete kamila valieva was banned for a doping offence. the teenager's results were disqualified by the court of arbitration for sport, who suspended her for four years, and the international skating union have re—ranked the teams involved in the competition in beijing. russia have dropped from first to third without valieva's points, while behind the usa, japan will get the silver in what the ioc sez will be a dignified medal ceremony. you can get all the latest sports news at from the bbc sport app, orfrom our website — that's bbc.co.uk/sport. from me and the rest of the team at the bbc sport centre, goodbye. the foreign secretary lord cameron has suggested britain was ready

to bring forward the moment when it formally recognised a palestinian state. he told a reception at westminster that the palestinian people had to be given a political horizon to encourage peace in the middle east. with more on this, let's speak to our diplomatoc correspondent james landale. tell us more about what the foreign secretary has been saying and why? it's very striking that it has supported the idea of a two state solution, an israeli state and palestinian state living side by side but the assumption has always been is that it is something that would happen at the end of the day when all other negotiations are sorted as a grand package of a political settlement to the long—standing conflict in the middle east. what cameron is doing is saying may be the uk and other allies could recognise, diplomatically, the state of

palestine earlier, during the negotiating process to try and give the palestinians what he called the political horizon to demonstrate to them that progress towards a two state solution was, in his works, irreversible, so it is a change to the existing position. before the position was always, we will recognise the state of palestine when the time is right but lord cameron is saying let's bring it forward, and the aim of that is to think creatively, diplomatically to see if it is possible to kick—start a broader negotiation for the moment, as and when, as you can quite understand, and the fighting stops. quite understand, and the fighting stos. ~ ., ., stops. what impact could it have that he's even _ stops. what impact could it have that he's even saying _ stops. what impact could it have that he's even saying it? - stops. what impact could it have that he's even saying it? it's - that he's even saying it? it's already ruffled _ that he's even saying it? it�*s already ruffled feathers and been questions in the house of commons and some conservative mps have raised concerns. one said it was really disturbing for lord cameron to say this and another suggested this would be in some way rewarding

hamas. what the british government would say in response to what the minister said in the house of commons is this will not happen tomorrow and it's not a bilateral recognition of a palestinian state by the british government. what this is a project to say, look, is there some way that a palestinian state could be sketched out or fleshed out earlier to give palestinians something to aim for instead of following the route of violence, and that's what he's trying to do but it will ruffled feathers and i don't think it's gone down well in israel and as far as i know there's been no formal response and i've asked for one but i haven't got anything yet. the foreign secretary is beginning his fourth visit to the middle east since he was appointed, so tell us where he is going on what he hopes to achieve? it’s where he is going on what he hopes to achieve?— to achieve? it's his fourth trip, and he is _ to achieve? it's his fourth trip, and he is in — to achieve? it's his fourth trip, and he is in oman, _ to achieve? it's his fourth trip, and he is in oman, a - to achieve? it's his fourth trip, and he is in oman, a crucial. to achieve? it's his fourth trip, - and he is in oman, a crucial country for various reasons, one is that it

is very close to iran, a country that has lots of connections and has long been used by the uk as an interlocutor, cut out mediator between the west and iran. if you remember the case of nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe who was jailed so unjustly, omagh and were crucial in the negotiations to affect the release, so lord cameron is there so he can send messages to iran and hear what they are saying. the other thing is this. remember the situation in the red sea where the dominant rebels in yemen had been attacking all of the shipping in the red sea, a lot of the weapons that come from iran and feed that war machine, those that don't come by the sea come via land through oman,

so this will be a core part of the talks. �* ,, , ,., talks. and three us personnel were killed in jordan _ talks. and three us personnel were killed in jordan in _ talks. and three us personnel were killed in jordan in a _ talks. and three us personnel were killed in jordan in a strike _ talks. and three us personnel were killed in jordan in a strike that - killed injordan in a strike that was thought to be by an iran backed group as well, so presumably the government is watching what the us decides to do in terms of retribution or reactions of that. yeah, the uk is consulting with the americans like any others and it will be an american decision but the general messages, calibration, proportionate response, everything to avoid escalation but also lord cameron will assess on his tourjust what other gulf states are staying so he can feed that back into the diplomatic intelligence nexus between the uk and us and other western allies so they can respond adequately to what happened but equally do nothing that will make the situation worse.— equally do nothing that will make the situation worse. james landale, thank ou.

review in the manslaughter case has been requested by the attorney general. 219—year—olds were fatally stabbed last year along with 65—year—old school caretaker. there killer, valdo colacane was given a hospital order after admitting manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility. the review will also look into how the victim's families were consulted. rail passengers are facing more disruption again today. today is the first in a series of strike days, with members of the aslef union walking out at 6 train companies, mostly across the south of england. other areas will be impacted on different days, until next monday. here's our transport correspondent katy austin. here we go again. i'm late for work because of the strikes, ain't got time!

more strikes, more picket lines. this one was outside london waterloo. i'm a student so i have to get into campus. i mean, we have to not come in and stuff like that, and sometimes you miss lectures. ijust think it's affecting the wrong people, that's my view on it. it needs to affect the people upstairs, not us. it seems to be a permanent state of affairs, unfortunately. - it's something you've got to get used to. l there are more strikes tomorrow, friday, saturday and next monday, with different train companies affected each day. they will run either no services or very limited timetables. other rail unions including the rmt have struck deals to end their strikes, at least for now. but it was back in april last year that aslef�*s committee turned down the latest offer from the train companies, and there hasn't been any progress in their dispute since. the operators and ministers want aslef to give members a vote on that deal, which they say would bring average driver pay to £65,000 a year. the finances on the railways still haven't got back to where they were before the pandemic. taxpayers are putting an extra £54 million a week into the railway network. we want to give our colleagues a pay rise but it has to be sustainable.