manchester city make it 18 straight league wins with victory at newcastle, as they go 15 points clear at the top. liverpool finally land their man. southampton‘s virgil van dijk is heading to anfield, in a £75 million record fee for a defender. and some joy for england down under at last. alastair cook hits an unbeaten century as the tourists fight back against australia at the mcg. hello and welcome to sportsday. more on the ashes to come, and news of a world record transfer, but we'll start in the north—east, where manchester city's incredible season continues. they've established a 15—point lead at the top of the premier league after a 1—0 win at newcastle, their 18th straight league victory. drew savage was watching the action. pep guardiola has infinitely better

resources at his disposal than rafa benitez, and rafa could be forgiven for his one—dimensional game plan. defend and hope for the best. after half an hour city had already hit the post twice, and rahim sterling finally found a way through the newcastle rearguard. almost inevitable, really. with a group as powerful as this, you could be forgiven for thinking the rest of the match would be a formality but with this slip from kyle walker, newcastle were almost back in it straightaway, but nicolas otamendi intervened. the hosts were heading for their fifth consecutive home defeat. they had hoped that perhaps they would get a chance from a set piece, but referee andre marriner was not impressed with this. benitez

will be hoping for reinforcements in january. guardiola's squad, though, can't break that winning habit. on a night when they did just enough, they still have an aura of invincibility. it is difficult to play when the other team doesn't wa nt to play when the other team doesn't want to play. and after the last minute, you play in the rhythm, and it is always not easy azeem rafiq and was knocked over with 1—0, but recreate enough chances to win 4—0. obviously, they're so superior to the majority of the teams they're playing against and you have to think carefully about your tactics and how you approach everything. we had to become packed in the first half and we had some situations where we could do better on the counterattacks, but still we were in the game. the edinburgh derby finished 0—0.

this is the moment hibs should have gone ahead. no goal—line technology in scottish football currently. much to the frustration of neil lennon, replays showed the ball had crossed the line. there were wins for aberdeen and rangers in the other matches. the game at hamilton was called off. ross county and stjohnstone drew 1-1. liverpool have finally got their man after announcing this evening that southampton‘s virgil van dijk is joining the club at the beginning of the year in what will be a world record dealfor a defender at £75 million. the dutch international was expected to make the move to anfield last summer after he handed in a transfer request. but a move eventually collapsed when liverpool had to apologise for making an alleged illegal approach for the 26—year—old. vitaly mutko has stepped down from his role as chief organiser for next summer's world cup in russia to concentrate on government work.

it's been a turbulent month for russia's deputy prime minister. he temporarily left his post as the russian football union presidentjust two days ago. this comes off the back of his life ban from the olympics at the start of december, after having been accused of running a huge "state—directed" doping programme. there was finally a little bit of christmas cheer for england's cricketers, as former captain alastair cook made his first ashes century for almost seven years. the visitors finishing on top after day two of the fourth test. cook's knock helping england close on 192—2, after stuart broad had earlier returned his best figures of 2017 taking 4 for 51 to spark an australia collapse. patrick gearey was in melbourne for us. mercury rising at the mcg. health advice in such heat — stay in the shade, conserve energy, under no circumstances try and bowl at steve smith. the australian captain not out

in tests here for three years. was this a mirage? tom curran‘s first test wicket a rare and valuable one. this might look like a replay but it's not, it's mitchell marsh falling to chris woakes in exactly the same way. the old reliable stuart broad and jimmy anderson did the rest, australia all out for 327 only 83 more than they started the day with. the temperature is over 30 degrees and england's bowlers will be pleased they are back in the shade of the pavilion. they have their side back into this, now what can the batsmen do? they made 35 before mark stoneman ran into the goat. short for "greatest of all time", a nickname extended to nathan lyon. england could cheer the revival of a reassuring presence. alastair cook, with more than 11,000 test runs to his name, knows the value of luck. so rarely does steve smith let these escape. cook was on 66. questions have been asked about cook's appetite for batting

but look at the reaction when he went to his hundred in the last over of the day. his answer to those who doubted him. the celebrations in the dressing room when he got that hundred were huge, people jumping up, room when he got that hundred were huge, peoplejumping up, and that is testa m e nt to huge, peoplejumping up, and that is testament to the bloke is. he's not someone testament to the bloke is. he's not someone who gets particularly fazed or down, he went through so much stuff with his captaincy, i'm not sure a bit of stick about scoring i’u ns sure a bit of stick about scoring runs will bother him too much. this may be seen as too little too late, but at least, at last, england have had their day in the sun. bath have been fined £60,000 for releasing taulupe faletau to play for wales in their autumn international against south africa. the match fell outside the official international window allowed by premiership rugby. bath say they understand the position but they're pushing for a resolution to the conflict between club and country schedules. now, one year ago, southport‘s tommy fleetwood finished the golf european tour way down in 41st in the rankings — at the time he was struggling with his game. fast forward to the end of 2017,

and he's now europe's number one, and in the world's top 20. he finished the season in dubai with £5.5 million of prize money. and in what he's described as the best year of his life by a mile, he became a dad, and got married. our very own stuart pollitt has been to meet him. two wins, one marriage, a baby and europe's number one golfer. it's not until now, getting home and kind of sitting down, that we're like, what have we done? christmas coming up, a new baby pandered new wife, it's very cool. but a year ago

it was anything but cool. tommy rowe struggling. he got his best mate to caddie and went back to his childhood coach — it worked.|j caddie and went back to his childhood coach - it worked. i do feel responsible for him. you won't forget this year? absolutely not, 110. forget this year? absolutely not, no. this has been a heck of a year. we get on absolutely brilliant. he's my best mate, we get on really well, he's a goodlatte. i've been found behind bushes talking to myself but... you can't get any better than this, can you? from the dubai sunshine to the cheshire snow, his biggest supporters are here, his stepson is, are you nervous watchers? i am quite good i think but when he's doing well, i do get quite nervous. when he's playing on the sunday a comeback into school on

the sunday a comeback into school on the monday and everybody is talking to me about it as leader teachers. to have that many people that you are to have that many people that you a re close to have that many people that you are close with around you, i can't thank them enough. i've had an amazing year on the course, and off the course, it's been even better. supermaxi wild oats xi has won the gruelling sydney to hobart race in record time. but they now face the possibility of a protest from second—placed ldv comanche after a near—collision at the start. wild oats crossed the line in the river derwent in a time of one day, 8hrs, 48min and 50 sec — that's several hours inside the previous record set last year. the world number two peter wright has been knocked out of darts‘ pdc world championship in the second round. he was well beaten by one the sport's emerging talents, 26—year—old welshmanjamie lewis winning by four sets to one at ally pally.

he hit 13 180s on the way. that's all from sportsday. coming up in a moment, it's the papers. hello and welcome to our look ahead to what the the papers will be bringing us tomorrow. with me arejosie cox, business editor at the independent, and tom bergin, business correspondent for reuters. here for the long haul — the i reports thatjeremy corbyn says he's ready to fight an election at any time, and will wait until 2022 if the government survives for a full term. the times claims that

the metropolitan police is failing to protect vulnerable children. the financial times reports that companies have made a record amount from floating on stock exchanges, mainly because of deals in the us and china. the daily express runs with a story about people seeing their pension funds whittled away by hidden charges. the telegraph leads with a warning that patients are going blind while waiting for cataract operations. the guardian leads with a story claiming the rise of automation and the machine will affect the poorest hardest. the mirror claims hospitals made £500,000 a day from nhs carparks. the mail's front page has a report claiming half of local authorities haven't had a bobby on the beat for the past year. so, let's begin... your stablemate at the independent

hasjeremy your stablemate at the independent has jeremy corbyn your stablemate at the independent hasjeremy corbyn in for the long haul, he says. he has been giving interviews, one suspects, to make eve ryo ne interviews, one suspects, to make everyone realise he's still around? yes, absolutely, it looks like it. to me, this looks like a bit of a battle cry. there have been some developments around theresa may which might give the impression that she has stabilised a little bit and i think that this could be a response to that, jeremy corbyn just saying, iam response to that, jeremy corbyn just saying, i am here, response to that, jeremy corbyn just saying, iam here, too. all these election promises that we made, they still count, we're still to be reckoned with. he doesn't really say anything particularly new however, he's reiterating what we've already heard from him, that he expects he could be prime minister next year, reiterating all his commitments to education and health care and housing. all of these really traditionaljeremy corbyn promises.

so, it's reaffirming most of what he's already put out there. but tom, is there a sense also that perhaps labour haven't kicked on the way that those within the labour movement would have hoped following the relative success that they enjoyed back in the summer in the election? true, may be one challenge they face in that area is around brexit, an issue on which they're being deliberately ambiguous. and in this interview he talks about clarifying the position, which has been quite confused of late, regarding a second referendum. earlier in the month tom watson indicated he was possibly supportive ofa indicated he was possibly supportive of a second referendum, but he has come out and apparently settled the issue by saying they're not advocating a second referendum! of course that's very different to actually explaining your position on it! i'm none the wiser! is that

fundamentally part of the problem, then, that they do have a poor constituency in some of the traditional labour heartlands hospital were pro—brexit, sorry, who we re hospital were pro—brexit, sorry, who were pro—remain, but then you have got a lot of other people who would see themselves as middle of the road labour supporters who believe that europe is in fact the future? absolutely. so, is it a problem or is ita absolutely. so, is it a problem or is it a strength? it is working out pretty good if you take the view that the brexit will unravel, because the promises they made cannot be delivered, and we've seen some of that already, the fact that we could walk away without paying any money — well, that didn't work out. so, from his perspective may be the thing is to sit back and not express a view and let everyone else's view be shown to be inaccurate. that's theresa may has 110w inaccurate. that's theresa may has now moved onto the second stage of negotiations to talk trade — and it could go swimmingly from there, so

it isa could go swimmingly from there, so it is a fine line for labour?|j think it is a fine line for labour?” think for them it is about momentum and keeping it up, and as thomas says, clarifying some of the issues which got them the support in the first place. i think there was definitely a ground swell,