the tour�*s finals tournament will be hosted by saudi arabia for the next three years. hello and thanks forjoining us, where we start with football, and the news that liverpool have returned to the top of the premier league, after a 3—1win over bottom of the table sheffield united. after darwin nunez capitalised on a goalkeeping error, it looked as though the hosts would cruise to victory at anfield, but a conor bradley own goal left the crowd on edge. it levelled matters shortly after the break. then alexis mac allister�*s thunderbolt, and cody gakpo

finished it late on and took the merseysiders two points clear of arsenal and three ahead of manchester city with eight games to play. it was clear that sheffield will not change their approach, and now will open up, just because they are 1—0 down, they played what they wanted to play for the full 90—odd minutes. so, you know, it isjust difficult but you can do better than we did, and we did better, and that is why we won the game. we gave it a good go. i don't like losing, i think there's always ways to lose, and unfortunately, our achilles' heel, the last 15 minutes, where we ran out of power, we ran out of physical strength, and i think that has been our achilles' heel right the way through the season, the amount of goals we have conceded late on. and, unfortunately, we just couldn't hang on in there. joyous scenes at stamford bridge, as chelsea somewhat miraculously came from a goal down to score twice in stoppage time and win 4—3 against manchester united, having led 2—0 after less than 20 minutes,

the blues found themselves 3—2 down in stoppage time, before palmer converted a penalty to level and then his deflected goal in the ioist minute, that gave him a hat—trick, was also the latest winning goal in premier league history. the reality is that we need always to do more and more and more to win, but i think it was amazing. we can't talk about that the performance was great, but that is a good start for the the fans, and it will be very helpful for the future of us. we make high individual errors that cost us the game, and then you are very disappointed, you are frustrated, and we can't make such individual errors. we have to learn from it, but actually when you are a player of man utd, you already should know how to deal with this circumstance, how you deal with stoppage time, how you deal to bring a win over the line.

it is the first round of euro 2025 qualifying on friday, when england's women officially begin the defence of their title. they start against sweden at wembley and have a much clearer, if not necessarily easier, path to the finals than the other home nations, asjoe lynskey reports. the way to the euros starts again at wembley. it is where england won the last one. cheering the lionesses are defending champions. in switzerland next year, they go to win it back. but this time, the route is tough. their qualifying group is set up to test them, with three teams ranked in the top six in the world. two go straight through, while third and fourth face the play—offs. england start against sweden, and there's no space to look back. that was then and that was a great moment, but we all move on.

there have been a lot of things happen in between that time and now. of course, we know sweden very well, they know us very well, too, so we are preparing on what we have seen lately from them, what we want to do and how we want to play. obviously, we want to qualify for the euros. the long goal would be to win the tournament, we want to win every tournament but that would be a special part of history, to be a team that could go back to back in a tournament. this qualifying format is split in two tiers. england are in league a but the three other home nations are one below. in league b, the top three just make the play—offs. there is no straight route here through to the finals but scotland, northern ireland and wales all see opportunities. i still don't quite understand how on earth this is the process. it is going to be really hard, but i kind of welcome that. i relish that, because i know

this group, and like i said, the players that we have, i fully believe that we are capable of getting to where we want to get to. our objective is at the end of the group to be first, but also to play the play—offs, and that may be in first, second or third so let's see what happens, game by game. we are looking for good performances, the players to be performing at the best level, and we do that, we have more opportunities to win every single match. i think, for us, it is about continuing to progress i and challenging the group to . make decisions for themselves and i think that comes - with positives but also areas where they make mistakes, so a little bit of patience - and i'm ok with that- because the progression we have — seen is really positive with the group. in 15 months' time, this is the destination, the first match in the final of the euros are in basel, 16 teams make it, and there are no easy routes. joe lynskey, bbc news. now to tennis, and the news the saudi arabian capital of riyadh will host the wta finals for the next three years

and offer record prize money. this year's finals will take place in november and our sports news correspondent laura scott says there are mixed feelings about it. there are some who believe that if the wta does not go to countries offering to host events and participate in its ambition to achieve equal prize money, then perhaps the future of women's tennis is precarious. there are others who say that going to a country like saudi arabia, with its human rights record, undermines the women who have formed the wta and participate in the sport. if you look at the likes of daria kasatkina, she is in a same—sex relationship, she has spoken about her concerns about going to saudi arabia. authorities in the country have said and made clear that everyone will be welcome at the wta finals, and of course kasatkina might not qualify to compete, but it is clearly important to all the players that everyone is made to feel welcome there. another clear area of concern is whether they can attract the crowds that they would feel

befit the end of year finals. that is something steve simon, head of the wta, acknowledged, saying they would be working with saudi arabia, to make sure they do generate the clouds stunned the crowds. they said they would look into formula i and how that has worked in saudi arabia to help with that but this will undoubtedly draw controversy and martina navratilova and chris everett among the most vocal critics of this but then you have billiejean king who feels that actually if you want to make a change, then go to the countries. she is supportive of tennis being played in saudi arabia. so some conflicting views in this, likely to draw reaction at the events in the coming weeks as we hear from more top players, but certainly an interesting move today, in terms of saudi arabia's increasing influence in sport. staying with tennis, danielle collins saw off defending champion ons jabeur in a tight tussle at the charleston open.

the world number 22, who won the miami open last month, saw her streak of 17 straight sets and, and with the tunisian fighting back in the final set. collins dug deep for a 6—3, 1-6, 6-3 collins dug deep for a 6—3, 1—6, 6—3 when and will now face fellow american sloane stephens for a place in the quarterfinals. rafa nadal has withdrawn from the upcoming monte carlo masters, where he was expected to make his atp tour comeback. writing on social media platform x, nadal said "unfortu nately i have to tell you i am not going to be "playing in monte carlo. "my body simply won't allow me". the 37—year—old, who says he expects to retire after the 2024 season, returned to competition in brisbane injanuary after almost a year sidelined with a hip flex injury but has not played an atp event since. several riders have been taken to hospital after a mass crash on the fourth stage of the tour of the basque country. among those hurt, reigning

tour de france champion, the world time trial champion and olympic time trial champion primos roglic. the stage resumed with the breakaway allowed to ride to the line. i hope and think my long—term goals will not change. everything should be ok with that. then i need to thank all the doctors and the team who took care of me in the last couple of hours, and of course i want to wish all the other riders that were involved in the crash all the best, a speedy recovery, and i hope to see you all soon on the road again. you would imagine one may find their way into the pool in a slightly more elegant manner than a french diver did earlier at the opening of the olympic aquatic centre in paris. alexis jandard on the right of the three lost his grip on the board atjust the wrong moment. he said afterwards, "thanks for the support.

"for your information, my back is fine, but my ego..." a tough way to land. head to the bbc sport website, or you can download the bbc sport app to your mobile or tablet. but for me, tulsen tollett, and the rest of the sportsday team, until next time, goodbye. hello. the weather will be throwing all sorts at us over the next few days — some wet weather, some warm weather and some windy weather, particularly driven by storm kathleen, a storm named by the irish weather service, for impacts it will have in the republic of ireland over the weekend. but for northern and western parts of the uk, it will bring gales and the risk of disruption. here is storm kathleen developing, still well away to the south—west of our shores. but low pressure already in charge of the scene for friday, rain and snow across scotland, that tending to peter out, but more rain pushing into southern scotland, later. for northern ireland,

bands of showery rain with sunny spells in between, england and wales seeing a day of sunny spells and showers. it will be quite windy, particularly around western and southern coasts, but pretty warm — 15 degrees for belfast, 18 for norwich. still cold in the north of scotland, but it will turn milder here, as we go through friday night. further bands of heavy rain driving northwards, turning increasingly windy around some western parts, but a very mild start to the weekend. down towards the south, 12 or 13 degrees, first thing on saturday. so storm kathleen, this deep area of low pressure, well to the west of us, but coming close enough to bring some very strong winds, and with those winds coming from the south, well, they will be pulling some really warm air into the mix. it is likely that saturday will be the warmest day of the year so far, with some outbreaks of rain moving northwards across scotland, showers following on behind, some decent sunny gaps in between, but i think it is the strength of the wind that could cause some issues, especially around western coasts. we'll see gusts of 50, 60,

maybe 70 mph in exposed spots. so that could cause some travel disruption, maybe a little bit of damage. temperature—wise, though, well, values up to 20 or 21 degrees in eastern england, and certainly much, much warmer than it has been across the north of scotland. now, storm kathleen, this area of low pressure continuing to track to the northwest of us as we move through saturday night into sunday. still a lot of isobars squeezing together on this chart for sunday, so still very windy, the strongest winds up towards the north west of scotland, where there will be gales. yes, there'll be some sunny spells, but there'll be some heavy, perhaps thundery, showers, and it's going to be a windy day for all of us. not quite as warm on sunday — temperatures between ten and 17 degrees.

live from washington, this is bbc news. just hours after pressure from the white house, israel will open humanitarian aid routes into gaza. rescue efforts continue at a popular national park in taiwan where hundreds remain trapped after a powerful earthquake. plus, the bbc examines how nato allies are preparing for threats from moscow as the bloc marks its 75th anniversary.

hello, i'm carl nasman. ministers in israel have approved the opening of aid corridors to gaza hours after us presidentjoe biden told israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu by phone that israel must prevent civilian harm to ensure continued us support. for the first time since the start of the israel—gaza war, israel will temporarily reopen the erez crossing in northern gaza. ashdod port will also be opened for humanitarian deliveries and more aid trucks from jordan will be allowed to traverse israel to gaza. the call between biden and netanyahu was their first since an israeli air strike killed seven international aid workers from the charity group world central kitchen, sparking international outrage. the white house is urging israel to allow a "dramatic" increase of aid into gaza within "hours or days." in a statement released after the israeli ministers approved opening aid corridors, the white house national security council said: