hello. this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: world number one dustin johnson doubtful for the masters afterfalling and injuring his back. in the english premier league eden hazard scores twice as leaders chelsea win 2—1 at home to manchester city. and alvaro morata also picks up a double for spanish leaders real madrid in their 4—2 win away to leganes. hello and welcome to the programme where we start with the golfing news that world number one dustin johnson is in doubt for the first major of the year, the masters, teeing off at augusta national at midday gmt on thursday. the american has won his last three tournaments and is favourite to add a second major championship to the us open he won last year. our golf correspondent iain carter explained to me a short time ago what happened. we received a statement from dustin johnson's management which states that he fell down the stairs at his rental home here in augusta and sustained a back injury. he is being treated for it. the advice he has received is to remain immobile

overnight. he is taking anti—inflammatories and then a decision will be taken in the morning as to whether or not he will be able to tee off in the masters. he is the short odds over it for the masters. he has won the last three tournaments and has been the commanding presence on the golf tour so commanding presence on the golf tour so far this year. well, as iain carter was saying there, dustinjohnson has won his last three tournaments — and that's why he's the hot favourite to win the masters. speaking before his fall, johnson said he wasn't taking victory for granted — clearly aware that it's 12 years since a world number one, or pre—tournament favourite, last won the title. golf is a funny game, you know, it doesn't matter how good you are playing, you can still not win. it's the same that goes for this week. if ito win here, everything is going to have to go well for me. everything is going to have to be,

you know, really good. i have a lot of confidence in my game right now. especially the way i have been playing in the last few tournaments. but anything can happen. world number two rory mcilroy will be many people's favourite to win the "greenjacket". he's won four majors to date — including two us pga titles, and needs the masters to complete a career "grand slam". mcilroy says he's enjoyed a low key build—up to the tournament — with none of the hype of the past two years. it has been a relatively quiet buildup to the masters for me which has been quite nice. it's been a bit ofa has been quite nice. it's been a bit of a change for the last couple of yea rs. of a change for the last couple of years. especially 15, coming off the back of two major wins in a row. a korea grand slam. —— career.

obviously with dustin winning three times this year, you know, he is the former player right now. there is a lot of storylines. i feel like it has been relatively quiet which has been quite nice. not that i feel like i can fly under the radar any more but at the same time, it sort of felt that way to me and it's been nice to be able to prepare and go about by business and try to get ready for this tournament. meanwhile, the weather was again the key factor on wednesday as the players were forced to abandon the traditional par three tournament for the first time since its inception in 1960. it's predicted 60km an hour winds will affect he first round on thursday with conditions set to test the players. to the english premier league and the news that chelsea have maintained their seven point advantage at the top of the table. eden hazard scored a first half double as his side defeated manchester city 2—1. the opener came after ten minutes for antonio conte‘s side at stamford bridge as the belgian hazard put the ball past willy

ca ballero. sergio aguero levelled matters for pep guardiola's team before hazard had a penalty saved prior to half time but managed to tuck away the rebound for his 13th goal of the season leaving his side a step closer to the title. a big win. it is always difficult to play against man city. we did that. we scored enough today so we are very happy to stay top with seven points. you scored two goals with a bit of help. yes, a bit of work. sometimes we need this, we need this kind of help. i remember three years ago, we won the title and i thought the same penalty against crystal palace so it's a good sign. spurs who are second continue their chase of chelsea but left it late to come from behind and beat swansea 3—1. dele alli equalised in the 88th minute for spurs before injury time goals from heung—min son and christian eriksen

guaranteed the victory. in the end, the goals, in the last minutes, it's crazy but i think we push and we play better, we create chance enough to win. and it's a good example that that is how the tea m good example that that is how the team feels, never give up, push till the end, try, believe, have faith thatis the end, try, believe, have faith that is important. a big credit to the players because today was a difficult game, difficult situations happened before and the team showed big character. liverpool remain third despite allowing bournemouth to score a late equaliser at anfield. arsenal have moved fifth thanks to three goals in the second half that swept them to victory over west ham. southampton returned to ninth beating crystal palace 3—1, while hull city who were bottom when marco silva took over as manager injanuary secured

a fifth win under the portuguese that takes them out of the drop zone. in spain's primera division real madrid protected their two point lead at the top with a 4—2 win away to leganes. alvaro morata was twice on target for zinedine zidane's side who still have a game in hand over their rivals. los blancos scored three goals in eight minutes with james rodriguez first on the scoresheet in a game that saw cristiano ronaldo and gareth bale rested. while second placed barcelona also scored three goals in eight first half minutes in their win over sevilla. lionel messi picking up two of them after luis suarez grabbed the opener meaning fourth placed sevilla are now winless in their last five games. in the german bundesliga rb leipzig won 3—2 against mainz an ill tempered game that saw ten yellow cards and a straight red for mainz defensive midfielder jean—philippe gbamin. naby keita scored the third goal for the visitors as they remain second, closing the gap on leaders bayern munich to ten points after their loss on tuesday.

elsewhere freiburg climbed a place to seventh with victory over wolfsburg while there were also wins for borussia moenchengladbach, bayer leverkusen and ingolstadt. holdersjuventus will play lazio in the coppa italia final after they defeated napoli 5—4 on aggregate over their two semi final legs. napoli twice came from behind to win the second leg — but couldn't overturn the deficit from the opening match as massimilliano allegri's side seek a third consecutive win in this competition in the french cup, hatem ben arfa's stunning strike set paris saint—germain on their way to a comfortable win over third division side avranches. javier pastore completed the scoring as the holders won 4—0 to reach the semi—finals. in the night's other game, angers beat bordeaux 2—1. feyenoord remain three points clear at the top of the dutch eredivsie after a thumping 8—0 win over go ahead eagles.

former netherlands international and feyenoord captain dirk kuyt scored his 150th goal in this league when he grabbed the third of the match, but the win was capped off late on when current dutch internationaljens toornstra completed his hat—trick in what was a convincing win for giovanni van bronckhorst‘s side. the uefa president aleksander ceferin says he won't allow a "closed league" for the elite clubs. some of europe's top sides have again been discussing the possibility of a breakaway super league. speaking at uefas congress in helsinki, ceferin made his thoughts very clear. we will never give in to the blackmail of those who think they can manipulate small leagues or impose their will on the associations because they think they are all—powerful, astronomical and the revenues they generate. quite simply, money does not rule and the football pyramid must be and will be

respected. an olympic champion wrestler turned russian member of parliament is being stripped of his gold medalfrom beijing. artur taymazov is uzbekistan's most decorated olympian. re—testing of samples has revealed evidence of doping and he will lose his gold from 2008. but he retains his golds from athens and london, as well as the silver medal he won in sydney. taymazov is now an mp for vladimir putin's united russia party. you can get all the latest sports news at our website — that's bbc.com/sport. with the masters starting at midday gmt, that is in a hours, dustin johnson, the world number one and overwhelming favourite, has had a fall down some stairs and injured his back so is there is doubt —— so there is doubt on whether he will ta ke there is doubt on whether he will take part. from me and the rest of the sport today team, goodbye. hello there.

the weather story is pretty quiet for the next few days. a lot of dry weather, variable cloud, some sunshine, and generally light winds as well. it is all because of high pressure. now, during the course of the night, most places will be dry, maybe a little bit of light rain across the north—west of scotland. more of a breeze here. where you have the cloud, relatively mild, 7—9 degrees. where the skies clear, cool, and a touch of frost in some rural places, so a quiet looking start to thursday. most of us will be seeing light winds, but across the north, high pressure. in towards northern and western scotland, more of a strong, north—westerly breeze. that will fit in quite a lot of cloud to the northern isles. west scotland, some drizzle, with the east of scotland potentially seeing some shelter, so you could be seeing some breaks and some sunshine. variable cloud, maybe a bit of sunshine for northern england. i think much of wales and england, variable cloud and some sunny spells. i think probably the best of the sunshine in south wales and the south—west of england, where we could make 15 or 16 degrees. on friday, a similar story. light winds, variable cloud and also some sunshine.

the high pressure is with us for thursday and friday, but it moves position as we head towards the weekend. this is pretty crucial, because we then start to pull a southerly wind off the near continent. it is dry air, and eventually it will be warmer air, particularly as we head on into sunday. notice the blue colours behind me, though. this is an approaching weather front, a cool mass of air which will arrive across the far north—west of the country as the weekend wears on. so i think, for saturday, probably a greater chance of seeing more sunshine around. temperatures up just that little bit. 15, 16, maybe 17 celsius. more cloud, though, across the north—west of the country. it is looking pretty good for the grand national, as well. aintree, a lot of dry weather, temperatures around the mid—teens celsius. on sunday, that weather front approaches scotland. strengthening winds, and feeling quite cool, outbreaks of rain. but for england and wales it is looking much sunnier, because we are pulling down to warmerand drierairoff the near continent. it is going to be really warm, temperatures in the low 20s celsius. we could make 23 degrees across the south—east.

so the main message for the next few days — because of high pressure, it is going to be largely dry, with light winds. there will be some sunshine around. it is going to get warmer this weekend, especially on sunday. like i mentioned, that weatherfront with the cold air behind it spreads its way southwards during monday. so a cloudy, cool day generally. temperatures in the north struggling to get much above eight or nine degrees. still fairly mild in the south—east. a very warm welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to our viewers in north america and around the globe. my name's mike embley. our top stories: as the persecution of rohingya muslims intensifies, we ask the leader of myanmar, aung san syu kyi, if she's failing to stop ethnic cleansing. i don't think there's ethnic cleansing going on. i think ethnic cleansing is too strong an expression to use for what is happening. the us signals a new stance on syria after the chemical weapons attack that left 70 dead.

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