at home to champions chelsea in a cracking game. the fifth and final ashes test between australia and england has been delayed by rain in sydney and japan's kei nishikori withdraws from the australian open due to an ongoing wrist injury hello and welcome to the programme where we start with the english premier league and the news that hector bellerin struck in the second minute of stoppage time to hand arsenal a 2—2 draw at home to champions chelsea in what was an enthralling match. watching in north london was the bbc‘sjohn murray. have to get your breath back after that. all the goals coming in the second half. could easily have gone 2- nil second half. could easily have gone 2— nil but the penalty was scored. alonso stealing in. great work from arsenal. that was in the 34th

minute. it looked all over but arsenal down the goal from hector bellerin yet there was still time for chelsea to have that golden opportunity, one—on—one, the shot and then the rebound struck across. and it's finished, arsenal, too. chelsea, too. it was a remarkable game and again we got a very bad decision against us $0 we got a very bad decision against us so we we got a very bad decision against us so we have to account in the preparation of our games that is what have to base. not to give up, that's what we did. it was a great football game. when you come here, but unfortunately sometimes you see bad decisions. i love football and would like to talk about football, not referees and that would be nice at some stage. with the game, i think we deserved

to win because we had a lot of chances to score and it was a pity because we needed it and there are two minutes to go. i think we must doa two minutes to go. i think we must do a big effort to keep the wind. now to the last of the coppa italia quarter—finals where holdersjuventus have beaten torino 2—0 in the turin derby. douglas costa grabbed the opener in the first half before mario mandzukic made sure of their place in the last four where they'll now face atalanta over two legs in the semi finals. in spain's copa del rey, diego costa scored in his first game after returning to atletico madrid as they won 4—0 against third tier lleida esportiu in the first leg of their last 16 match. the spanish international left chelsea at the beginning of the season but wasn't able to play for atletico until the start of january. elsewhere last year's beaten finalists alaves were 3—1 winners at formantera while in the two late

matches sevilla won at cadiz and las palmas drew i—i at home to valencia on thursday it's the turn of barcelona and real madrid in the last sixteen. holders barca travel to play celta vigo while real madrid, who are languishing fourth in the league after a 3 — —— 3—0 home defeat to barca at the end of last year, are away at numancia who play in the second tier. translation: we are a club that never tires of winning. it is true that we can sometimes be up here and then descended it for later going back up again. i still haven't finished my third year in charge. i will finish my third year and see what happens. i'm convinced that i still have enough energy to the next six months and so does the squad. in portugal — primeira liga leaders porto were 2—1 winners over feirense on wednesday. despite only having won three times this season the hosts proved hard to break down but vincent aboubakar still managed

to hand his side the lead with his 12th of the season and although feirense equalised just minutes later a second half felipe goal before he was sent off secured the win that moves them two points ahead of sporting lisbon who drew i—all at champions benfica. now to tennis where japan's kei nishikori has withdrawn form the australian open due to a wrist injury. the world number 22 suffered the problem midway through last year ruling him out of the second half of 2017 and the 28 year old says he's not yet ready for the rigours of five set matches. germany look well—placed to reach the final of the hopman cup in perth. they beat canada 3—nil in their second match of the round robin phase — to make it two wins out of two in group a. former world number one angelique kerber set the germans on their way to victory by thrashing eugenie bouchard in the women's singles. kerber — who's dropped to 21

in the world after a disappointing 2017 - won 6-1, 6-3. alexander zverev then beat vasek pospisil in straight sets — to make it 2—0 to germany. zverev fired down 9 aces on his way to a 6—4, 6—2 win and that secured victory for the germans with a match to spare. zverev and kerber then teamed up to beat pospisil and bouchard in the mixed doubles. they won 4—3, 4—3 to complete a 3—0 whitewash. it means germany will qualify for the final if they beat australia in the final round of group matches on thursday. belgium kept alive their hopes of reaching the final by whitewashing australia 3—0. their victories included a straight sets win for david goffin who beat thanasi kokkinakis 6—4, 6—2. belgium need to win their final match against canada and hope that germany lose to australia to reach the final. onto a story of one athlete fighting his way back to competition after a potentially life—threatening injury.

englishman andrew cotton is used to competing in some of the world's most dangerous environments — he's a big wave surfer. and in november a massive wipeout on a sixty foot wave in portugal left him with a broken back, and no guarantee he'd get on a board again. over the last two months, andrew's been having intense physiotherapy to start walking and, he hopes, surfing again. the bbc‘s emma thomason‘s been given exclusive access to his progress. he thought it was going to be the wave of his life. it is one of the days of the year, maybe the best day i've seen in years, and those are the days you take risks. it looked like a perfect left but it changed on me. i was committed and i couldn't do anything else. the wipeout, and i wouldn't say i panicked but i knew it wasn't going to bea panicked but i knew it wasn't going to be a nice wipeout but it was probably, like it felt weird and i

felt weightless for a long time and the impact was just insane. felt weightless for a long time and the impact wasjust insane. a broken back, the result of being hit by that 60- back, the result of being hit by that 60— football of water. he was fitted with a brace and that it was time for reality to hit home to. fitted with a brace and that it was time for reality to hit home tolj just physically couldn't get out of the bed and stand—up. i think my whole body was just in shock. i thought i was going to be sick and i laid back down and was the realisation how badly i ventured myself and that was a warrior. andrew is now back in the uk getting specialist physiotherapy in manchester but finding even the simplest of exercise is tough. there's a lot of fatigue now. but this is one determined surfer. he has come with his rehab team to see a spinal consultant to find out if his back is healing. and looking at

the x—rays, i see no real change in the x—rays, i see no real change in the position from where we started. so what we are doing is working. so that's good? that is very good news. but the million—dollar question. do you think i will be able to go to surfing? if it is easy water surfing, you are looking at another six months. clearly not the answer he was looking for. he did say a couple of time frames which were not what i wanted to hear but it's given me confidence to come back stronger, pichot, ioo%. back surfing big waves before you know it, the latest october 20 18. before you know it, the latest october 2018. one before you know it, the latest october 20 18. one brave man considering this was the last time he took on the surf at nazaray and the surf one. now if cross—country skiing wasn't tough enough as a sport. take a look at these conditions at oberstdorf in germany, for the fourth stage of the cross—country world cup.

fierce winds played havoc on the course in the bavarian alps, with advertising boardings being blown from the fences. the event was cancelled after the women's prologue before the men's event had even started. the fifth and final ashes test between australia and england has been delayed by rain in sydney. the match was delayed due to rain. england are in at the moment. alistair cook picked up a yorker. they are 4 without loss. australia lead 3—0. the fourth match drawn in melbourne. it could go anyway. you can get all the latest sports news at our website — that's bbc.com/sport.

from the sport today team, goodbye. storm eleanor brought some damage and disruption to ireland and the uk. it has continued to move away into the baltic states as you can see here. it is beginning to weaken now. to the west, this next area of low pressure is showing signs of deepening. strengthening all the while as it reaches our shores, and could bring us severe gales during the course of this afternoon. initially, it is going to send a weather front out ahead of it. some of the rain will be fairly heavy, and persistent over the overnight period and to start this morning. but for the north and east, a dry and chilly start to the day with a little bit of frost and fog potentially in northern so, today, there's going to be that early—morning rain. then, the afternoon, winds pick up across the south. so we start on a wet note to start

with this morning in the south—east, east anglia, pushing in to the north—east midlands and northern england. those winds behind the rain band picking up. reaching gale—force, in the south—west and particularly towards wales. the rain will be persistent and fairly heavy in northern england, pushing into northern scotland and northern ireland. with elevation, and cold air around, we could be looking at some snow over the higher ground here. a dry and cold start for much of northern scotland with a bit of mist and fog around too. few showers in the northern isles. that rain band will move north and grinds to a halt in the far north of england, central and southern scotland, and northern ireland. behind that, for much of england and wales, a brighter afternoon, sunshine, but those gusty winds touching 60 miles per hour, maybe more in exposure in wales, the south—west and into the south—east. a very mild 12—13 degrees here. a bit cooler further north. that area of low pressure clears away, and on friday, another feature running in off the atlantic.

another spell of wet and fairly windy weather to our shores. a little bit of snow to start in the northern hills first thing on friday and then those winds picking up into the south—east. and some sunshine around as well. much more cold air begins to push into scotland with an increasing chance of wintry showers. that cold air down from the arctic spreads right across the uk for the weekend. it will feel distinctly cold. much, much colder out on that strong north—east wind. bitterly cold, in fact. sunshine around. wintry showers in eastern areas. temperatures 6—7 degrees at best. light winds across the board on sunday. still quitge breezy across the south—east but it is going to feel even colder despite there being plenty of sunshine. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley —

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