‘ start to around 5—9dc. a frosty start to tuesday. the weather turning much more unsettled and active from midweek. hello. this is bbc news with annita mcveigh. the headlines: the evacuation of civilians from eastern aleppo is hit with another setback, as rebel fighters reportedly set fire to buses which were due to help people leave two pro—government villages north of the city. the trade secretary, liam fox, says britain could remain a member of the eu customs union after brexit. the leader of the rmt has denied that the union is using the dispute with southern rail to take on the government. thousands of commuters have been affected by the strike action over who should control train doors. personalities across the sporting world will be celebrating this year's sports personality of the year tonight, with a record 16 contenders being shortlisted for the final award. now on bbc news, sportsday.

hello and welcome to sportsday. i'm james pearce. our headlines this evening: crisis? what crisis? manchester city beat arsenal to go second in the premier league. yet another good day for india against england. the tourists‘ chances of winning the fifth test are fast receding. and an upset in the european champions cup as scarlets hold on to secure a famous victory over toulon. good evening.

in a few minutes we'll be behind the scenes at the bbc sports personality of the year, which is about to get under way, but first news of a very important victory for manchester city in the premier league. they came from behind to beat arsenal 2—1 at the etihad stadium, and are now seven points behind the leaders, chelsea. here's tim hague. as christmas gifts go, this match is certainly one you'd want on your list. manchester city against arsenal, two teams and two managers desperately chasing chelsea. with that in mind, things unsurprisingly got physical very quickly. no kissing under the mistletoe for theo walcott a nd kissing under the mistletoe for theo walcott and kept the broiler —— kevin day brune. arsenal were ahead, but it shouldn't have been the case for long. raheem sterling somehow put the ball wide, and that was as

good as it got for city in the first hour. slow out of the blocks, you could say. unlike the christmas pudding, the home side found their feet straight after the break, leroy sane slotting them back into the match. the keeper saved his side more than once, but there was nothing he could do to stop sterling. he made up for that miss earlier in the best way possible. city were the victors in a match that certainly wasn't on your list u nless that certainly wasn't on your list unless you are an arsenal supporter. they were lucky in the first half. it was a good game for everybody. it was quite similar to chelsea. with chelsea, we didn't win, and today we did. we created chances. we have problems with important players not being there for a long

time. iam players not being there for a long time. i am so happy. i believe there is not going on the moment that is not serious. it is unbelievable, but every time the decisions go against you, and unilaterally. spurs are now only a point behind arsenal, in fifth place. they beat burnley 2—1 at white hart lane. like manchester city, spurs also had to come from behind. danny rose scored the winner 20 minutes from time. earlier ashley barnes had given burnley the lead before dele alli had equalised for spurs. the final score spurs 2, burnley i. always, the premier league is hard to win games. today we knew burnley asa to win games. today we knew burnley as a team that fight a lot, run a lot, every ball, they are ready to

challenge. i think the team played ina very challenge. i think the team played in a very good way. i think we deserved the victory and i am pleased with that because it was a difficult win. in the lunchtime match, southampton came from behind to win the premier league's south coast derby 3—1 at bournemouth. jay rodriguez was the man of the match, with two goals, his second a contender for goal of the month. joe lynskey watched the match. bournemouth have spent much of their existence looking up at southampton. it wasn't long ago they were foul dizzy put—mac divisions below them. they went into this match level on points. nathan aki was leaping on the end of a cross within five minutes, his third goal of the season, putting the cherries in front. fraser forster got hold of

josh king's ‘s effort, just. that may have been what stirred southampton into life. it took a moment of individual brilliance to pull them level, from their fallback. ryan bertrand's shot finding the corner. that set up a second—half to be defined by one player. jay rodriguez has waited a while for his run in the team. this was just his second premier league goal since 2014. he has had to battle through injuries, but they are worth it for moments like this. an extraordinary shot provoked an extraordinary reaction. southampton claimed the local bragging rights on a day that came to be all about jay tonight, sports personality of the year is happening at birmingham. let'sjoin andy year is happening at birmingham. let's join andy swiss, who is there morass. quite up challenge for programme editors, with a lot of big

sporting moments to squeeze in. —— quite a challenge. you like that's right. you can see they are dismantling the red carpet, that is because everyone is inside the venue. because everyone is inside the venue. it all gets underway in about five minutes. 12,000 people are inside the arena to celebrate what has been a bumper yearfor british sport. there are normally only 12 contenders on the short list. this year, there are 16. in alphabetical order... nicola adams, gareth bale, alistair brownlee, sophie the kristian thomas kadeena cox, mo farah, jason kenny, laura kenney, andy murray, adam peaty, kate richardson morse, nick skelton, dame sarah storey, jamie vardy, max whitlock and danny willett. the winner will be decided by a public vote. —— kate richardson—walsh. details of how to vote will be giving out throughout the show. it

all gets underway in five minutes. plenty more awards to be announced as well as the big one. that's right. the awards for team of the year, coach of the year. we saw the year, coach of the year. we saw the leicester city team parading the premier league trophy earlier, the 5000-1 premier league trophy earlier, the 5000—1 outsiders, you would imagine they would be very much in the running for the team of the year award. there is a lifetime achievement award from michael phelps, who finally retired after the 30 olympics. he won 23 olympic titles in all, the most decorated 0lympian of all time. he will get an achievement award. we also know about the young sports personality of the year, which has gone to 15—year—old ellie robinson who won gold in the paralympics at the age of just 15. plenty to gold in the paralympics at the age ofjust15. plenty to look gold in the paralympics at the age of just 15. plenty to look forward to tonight. it all gets underway in

a few minutes, and it is live on bbc 0ne, a few minutes, and it is live on bbc one, of course. i will let you get away before they roll the red carpet underneath you. england's hope of a consolation victory in the fifth and final test against india are looking very slim. india batted all the way through the third day in chennai closing on 391—4. that's 86 behind england's first innings score, with rahulfalling just one run short of a double century. henry moeran‘s in chennai for us. mitt—mac the first two days of this test match dominated by the batting and scoring 477 on a service that is placid, offering little opportunity to bowlers. do was look like without they would offer more of the same, england looking to eat into india's first—innings total. the day was dominated by a batsman who finished with a disappointing end to his run close our milestone.

there has been little to sing and dance about her england. india's motto could have been, anything you can do, we can do better. rahul and party patel set about the lead. there was some style from patel. he provided some relief to england into the hands ofjoss buster. ——jos buttler. rahul swatted his way to a fourth test 100, completed fittingly by an england misfield. it was desperate stuff from cook's men. attention started to wonder. not many wickets were falling. england's frustration became plain to see. rahul rattled 7

frustration became plain to see. rahul rattled? it would seem not. he cruised past 150 and that 199 looked certain to make a double century, the player —— before playing a dreadful shot. he had scored the biggest opening score against england ever. england ever. england had to work hard for breakthroughs today. lead once again followed the pattern we have seen over the course of this test match ru ns over the course of this test match runs scoring... england were full of praise for the efforts of rahul, fell one short of his double century. he played really well. he took his time, calculated his runs quite well, then took risks when he needed to. i think it was some brilliant bowling to throw a slow, wide one. not many people on that score would leave that alone. credit

to rash for doing that. so far, this batting surface as given little opportunity to the bowling side. india hope to close the lead that england have set. england will be hoping that if they can take early wickets that the pressure will be on the home side and it can be england that pick up the consolation victory. on to rugby union, and there's been an upset in the european champions cup. scarlets survived a tense finale to hang on and beat toulon by 22 points to 21. leigh halfpenny missed two late penalties for the french team. jack skelton has the details. a mismatch in european pedigree as leigh halfpenny returned to his home

country. his power... scarlet ‘s proved to be the centre of excellence in the first half. at the parks with the break, scott williams with the finish. not so easy for gareth davies. an agonising drop when the host could have been out of sight. halfpenny kept his side in touch by half—time, but the fans demanded more. the wales starjulio obliged. —— duly obliged. halfpenny closed the gap to one, yet the three—time european champions made three—time european champions made three mistakes. 0ne three—time european champions made three mistakes. one final chance for the welsh man to break welsh hearts, but no. saracens and sale, who are in the same pool as scarlets, got underway at 5.30.

saracens lead 6—4. elsewhere, clermont auvergne beat ulster 38—19. there was one match in the european challenge cup — newcastle beat lyon 0lympique 48 points to 29. john higgins is level with marco fu in the scottish 0pen final after the first session. higgins made three centuries to go 4—1 up, but fu hit back, winning three frames in a row. the match is finely poised at 4—4. the concluding session starts at 7 o'clock. it's the first to nine frames. britain's scott brash has won the world cup show—jumping event at the london international horse show at olympia. the olympic team gold medallist from london 2012, riding hello m'lady, beat a top class field in a jump off to win the most prestigious indoor class in the uk. brash finished just ahead of his british team mate ben maher on diva. that's all from sportsday.

there'll be more sport on the bbc news channel throughout the evening. next on bbc news it's the film review with gavin esler and mark kermode. hello and welcome to the film review on bbc news. to take us through this week's cinema releases is mark kermode. and we have a festive feast, i would suggest. we do. we have rogue one: a star wars story, you may have seen some