hello and welcome to sportsday — i'm hugh ferris. the headlines tonight. one more win will do it for rafa and the teen. three points against preston and newcastle will be back in the premier league. kelly sotherton has been awarded a third olympic bronze medal. she's upgraded to third in the beijing games after a positive test by russia's tatyana chernova. selby sails through. the defending champion reaches the world snooker quarter finals. hello again. 11 months ago newcastle were relegated. but the premier league is within their grasp again. three points tonight against preston and they'll return to the top flight at the first time of asking. our sports corresondent katie gornall is at st james park. it hasn't all been plain sailing for

newcastle united this season, they have stuttered apply, picking up only a point in their last three matches, but with their nearest rivals huddersfield and reading slipping up at the weekend, their job tonight is very simple. beat preston and they are back in the premier league at the first time of asking. much of that is down to benitez. many people were surprised when he chose to stay at the club after they were relegated, and he was persuaded to do so by the fans and he said he is growing much keeping his squad focused on the task in hand. the other teams, they have to do something and we have to do ourjob. the only thing that we can control is our team and we have to be sure that these three games, we are concentrating to do ourjob properly and to win our games and if the other results go in our favour, much better. my target was always to go up, it doesn't matter the position, so the main thing is that we finish ourjob. we have seen how important it is to

see our fans when we are going away and we have seen how important our fans when we do a little bit for them, and then they are behind the team, like against leeds. 52,000 fans, they are very loyal and that means it is something we have to use in our favour. tonight newcastle face a side that they thrashed 6—0 in the league cup in october. preston have a few problems in defence, so the hope in newcastle is that newcastle can get the job done tonight. if they do that it looks as though brighton will still win the title, but i don't think anyone here really wouldn't mind finishing second. brighton will be champions if newcastle lose tonight. former newcastle united goalkeeper shay given is with me now. always a risk, a big club going down might suffer a bit of a hangover. so how relieved will they be if they get over the line? it will be massive for the city,

huge expectations tonight to get the job done. benitez made some good signings last summer, championship experience. and i know many friends and family going to the game, they area bit and family going to the game, they are a bit nervous, they want the job done. they need to points to get promotion, and hopefully it will be tonight at st james promotion, and hopefully it will be tonight at stjames park —— two points. they are not in great form, what is the reason behind the slump? i don't know if it is nerves orjust getting across the line, because they were flying mid—season. they have been stumbling across the line. the results at the weekend when for them and it is all set up for a great night at stjames's park and then hopefully they can get the winner. and then the rebuilding sta rts winner. and then the rebuilding starts for next year. let's say that they go up. equipped for the premier league? they have bought a view championship

players and i think they will have to dig deep again —— they have bought a few. benitez is one of the best managers in world football and if he is not supported there will be questions over whether he stays. there will need to be a big investment in the team. we wish newcastle well. another of your former clubs manchester city lost in the fa cup semi final. so pep guardiola will go without silverware for the first time in his career. is that a fair reflection of his time so farat is that a fair reflection of his time so far at city? he will be frustrated, there has been huge hype. he started the first ten games, they won ten on the bounce, but they have not won anything this season now. but they have not won anything this season now. the pressure will be on pep guardiola. sheikh mansoor in abu dhabi will be wondering where the money has gone. i'm sure pep guardiola will want to bring his own players again in in the summer and i

think he is a great coach and hopefully he will get it right again next season. thanks forjoining us. in the other fa cup semi final, antonio conte surprised a few by leaving eden hazard out of his team as he attempts to keep chelsea on course for a double. hazard still had an impact of course. he came on and scored in their 4—2 win over tottenham. but his team—mate cesc fabregas says the belgian can still improve if he becomes more selfish. ahead of the premier league leaders' match against southampton tomorrow conte says he doesn't agree. the first target for every great champion is to play for the team to put your talent in the team, and if you do this and the team excels, because it doesn't exist, the best players in the world, without the team. they don't exist. manchester united striker zlatan ibrahimovic says "giving up is not an option" after being ruled out for several months

with a serious knee injury. there had been speculation that the 35—year—old could retire given the nature of the injury that he picked up against anderlecht in the europa league last week. but he's said on social media today that he "will come back even stronger". claiming injuries won't decide his future in the game. league one champions sheffield united are attempting to re—sign striker ched evans from chesterfield. and a fee of around half a million pounds has been agreed. evans joined chesterfield who have been relegated to league two after having a rape conviction quashed in april last year. he was then found not guilty following a retrial. the 28—year—old last played for sheffield united in 2012 before he served two and a half years in prison. he is due to have a medical later this week. former british heptathlete kelly sotherton has been upgraded to win a third olympic bronze medal. it comes as a result of the international olympic committee disqualifying russia's tatyana chernova for testing positive for a steroid at the 2008 games in beijing. chernova's positive test is only the latest in a long line from the ioc‘s re—analysis of stored anti—doping samples from the 2008 and 2012 games.

after his early exit from the monte carlo masters andy murray has squeezed in an extra tournament as he continues his build up to the french open. and his attempts to stay as world number one. he's entered the barcelona open which will be just his second competition since recovering from an elbow injury. it's hard to maintain your ranking at the top of the game. you know, you have some of the best players of all time playing great tennis this year. and many of the young ones are starting to play better and better as well, so it will clearly be tough but i'm happy to be fit and healthy again. and hopefully i can start playing some good tennis. icame i came here to try to play matches, that's the best way to adapt to a new surface, playing against the best players in the world. sometimes it doesn't matter how much you

practice, it's getting the matches in that counts. myjob is to try and win matches this week and hopefully ican do win matches this week and hopefully i can do that. while murray has a bye to the second round, kyle edmund has booked his place in round two after a straight sets win over france'sjeremy chardy. he'll play the austrian dominic thiem next. joining them is briatin's dan evans who's beaten thiago monteiro of brazil 7—2 in a deciding set tie—break in barcelona. it's his first ever win on clay on the atp tour. defending champion mark selby is through to the quarter finals of the world snooker champoinship after beating xiao guo—dong. selby resumed with a 10—6 lead against his chinese opponent. and rattled off the three frames he needed in under an hour. he made a century break at the cruicible for the first time this year in the first frame of the session and just missed out on another as he clinched the match by 13 frames to six. 10—6, you still have a comfortable lead but xiao will be looking for a 3—1, 11—9, and then he could be back in the match. but to win that 13—6 was great.

barry hawkins willjoin mark selby in the last eight of the championship. he tookjust under hour this lunchtime to complete a 13—6 victory over scotland's graeme dott and reach his fifth consecutive quarterfinal where he'll now face another scot stephen maguire. it sounds to suspect faulty grammar, but i played solid enough. —— it sounds disrespectful to graham. i was not scoring as heavily as you would like, really, but i'm winning and that's the main thing. it was a moment that caught the attention of many — among 40,000 runners at yesterday's london marathon, david wyeth being helped over the line by fellow competitor matthew rees. the clip on the bbc sport facebook site alone has been viewed more than 5 million times. today the pair were reunited to talk about what happened.

ididn't i didn't really think about it. when someone i didn't really think about it. when someone is in need, you help them. i was shouting in his ear, saying, "come on, you can do this, it's 200 metres, we will finish — i'll stay with you". maybe i was a bit overzealous with my support. no, it was wonderful. it was needed! what the general public see there is the spirit of the running community and this happens all over the place. itjust happened there were quite a few cameras trained on that. at that point, capturing that moment. but it happens everywhere up and down the country. they have now parted ways. with david travelling

back to manchester. where he's part of the chorlton runners club. and by way of thanks they've offered to pay for matt rees's race entry, hotel and first class train travel from swansea for the 2018 event. that's all from sportsday. this is bbc news at 6 — the headlines: the french president, francois hollande has called on voters to reject the far—right candidate marine le pen and back emmanuel macron to succeed him. a 21 year—old man is being questioned by police investigating the death of a former royal navy officer outside his home in manchester. the labour leaderjeremy corbyn has told trade unionists in scotland about his plans to strengthen workers' rights, if he wins the general election.

an update on the market numbers for you — here's how london's and frankfurt ended the day. it is all green. the dax is up almost 3.5 points. the dowjones and the nasdaq are both in positive territory, as well. a 21 year—old man is being questioned by police after a former royal navy officer died tackling burglars outside his home in manchester. mike samwell — who was 35 — is thought to have been run over by his own car which was stolen in the early hours of yesterday morning. we can speak to dave guest in chorlton now. there has been an arrest, what is the reaction? one of great sadness, people who have spoken of mike samwell haven't said he is a very kind and generous man —— mike

samwell have said he is a very kind and generous man. it was in the early hours of yesterday morning, he had his wife heard a noise downstairs and he went to investigate and he was found with very serious injuries soon after that in the back alley behind the house. someone was trying to steal his car, he was trying to stop them, and appears to have been run over by the vehicle. the card was found abandoned a couple of miles from here. —— the car. people have been arriving with flowers and messages of sympathy and this afternoon his widowjessica returned of sympathy and this afternoon his widow jessica returned to of sympathy and this afternoon his widowjessica returned to the terraced house just down there. she was accompanied by police officers and she went into the house for a short time before leaving again. she was clearly very distressed because her world was turned around at three o'clock yesterday morning. indeed. many thanks. four drivers have admitted falling asleep while operating trams in croydon, where seven people were killed after a tram derailed in november 2016.

drivers have told the bbc a safety device, known as "a dead man's handle", failed to activate and stop their trams. our correspondent ed thomas reports. a speeding tram. no emergency braking. the sandylands disaster — here, seven people were killed, over 50 injured. have you fallen asleep? yeah. it's happened to me once in ten years. how many drivers do you think have fallen asleep in the cabin? i would have to say most drivers have at some point in their careers. he's admitting what many would consider gross misconduct because of this — it is called the traction brake controller or tbc — the driving lever that powers the tram. inside, the safety device known as the dead man's handle. this driver says when he fell asleep it didn't work. was there an alarm? no. was there any emergency braking?

no, none whatsoever. my hand remained on the tbc. that was enough to keep the dead man's handle from being activated. why aren't drivers telling the operators what's going wrong? if we were to come forward and say, "excuse me, i fell asleep", i think you'd just be dismissed. four drivers have told the bbc they'd fallen asleep in the cab. and they asked us to watch this footage again — a tram driver who appears to be asleep. there's no alarm, no emergency brakes. he's in and out of sleep, isn't he? he's coming to and starting to doze, and coming to and starting to doze. why was there no alarm? why was there no braking? well, because...