hello this is bbc news. police investigating the drones at gatwick search a house in west sussex, following the arrest of a man and a woman from crawley meanwhile the airport has so far run a full service today — but passengers continue to suffer delays and cancellations. a row over the money for donald trump's border wall results in a partial shutdown of the us government retailers pin their hopes on ‘super saturday‘ to boost christmas shopping sales — in what's been described as unprecedented levels of discounting, atfer a disappointing year for the high street hello and welcome to sportsday, with me olly foster and jeanette kwa kye. hello there, these are our headlines this evening. manchester city are stunned at home, the champions beaten

by crystal palace...are the omens good for liverpool? there's a dream start for the caretaker ole gunnar solskjaer‘s manchester united win 5—1 at cardiff and there's a big night ahead for british boxing but with two fights on at the same time, the fans have to make a choice the mac georgia 50,000 watts one and the other, the other side also coming up in the programme... exeter chiefs move to the top of rugby union premiership..with a big win over the champions saracens. and we'll tell you about the retired swedish footballer who has taken memorabilia to another level. hello and welcome to sportsday, only one place to start, there's been another title

twist in the premier league, 0lly has all the details. thanks jeanette, we just didn't see this coming. the champions manchester city losing to crystal palace at home, 28 years to the day after palaces last league win at city, 1990, liverpool were the reigning champions at the time and this result will have them celebrating today city took the lead through ilkay gundogan. but palace had the lead by half time, jeffrey schlupp with a tidy finish butjust a couple of minutes later a wonderstrike, andros townsend with a volley from way outside the box that flew past ederson. that's a must watch on match of the day tonight. luka milovojevic then stretched the lead from the penlaty spot, substitute kevin de bruyne pulled one back with a cross that went straight in, there was a frantic finish but palace held on to win.

3—2 the final score, and to think that palace had lost 5—nil 5—nil, a—nil and 3—nil in league matches at the etihad in the last four seasons. this was the slip that liverpool were hoping for, they remain 4 points clear it was quite a late, we had more chances, sometimes, they shoot three times and you know in the goal and three goals and we tried and 0k, what goes in the other one, will not go to leicester and try to win. you don't produce that kind of performance by waving a magic wand, a lot of work goes on in the training field to get that structure that we had and i was delighted at the discipline, our concentration, our focus was excellent. to mac because i think we

to mac because i think because i think we are playing against a team city shocked there at home and, so too chelsea. they could have moved up to third in the table with a win over leicester, but they went down i—nil at stamford bridge. jamie vardy‘s second half goal was the difference. chelsea had chances to get something out of the game. eden hazard and marcos alonso hit the woodwork, that win moves leicester up to the top half of the table after the goal, it is not that i think the right reaction. we reacted as a team in shock and confusion and i think that we had only to continue to play like the first 55 minutes. there was time to recover. what a week it's been

for manchester united, beaten by liverpool, they sacked jose mourinho 48 hours later, then gave 0le gunnar solskjaer the caretaker role until the end of the season. he has made a very promising start, they won 5—1 at cardiff, their biggest win of the season. this is the week manchester sought out a fresh start with an old face. he became an icon with late goals off the bench, his new short term cameo was to lift the move from their and like his playing days, his presence proved an impact. their and like his playing days, his presence proved an impactm their and like his playing days, his presence proved an impact. it is the perfect start! rewarded for new—found ambition, he was part of the forward line they did include the forward line they did include the 11, the forward line they did include the ii, the award cup winner, to

make things even better. by coincidence, this first match brought them back to what he managed four years ago, had brought them back to what he managed fouryears ago, had he brought them back to what he managed four years ago, had he still been the boss, this decision would have been more welcome. victor made the most of it for the home team. but dad said bag brought the best from united in attacking talent, more fitting and the quality that they had all along. and after the brave jesse run brought a chance for a fourth goal, the england man got up to finish it himself. 4—1 but still time for more of the free—flowing approach, setting up for a fit. these of the early days of her rebuilding mission, the fresh start has been the perfect one. arsenal beat burnley in the day's early kick off at the emirates stadium, two goals from pierre emerick aubamayang helping them to a 3—1 win, but it wasn't as straight—forward as the scoreline suggests,

as jo currie reports. arsenal looking to put a bleak week behind them and close the gap on the top four back in the team as captain for burnley, the opportuniy to pick up some much—needed points before heading into christmas and there afternoon got up to action—packed start as firstjoe hart to be alert to deny them before going up on the other end. but it wasn't long before pierre found a breakthrough, putting home to the burnley. he was at it again just after the half—time break, the striker shooting this rocket past hart, and bring them to the top of the goal score table, but burnley was not done yet, ashley scoring their first away goal since the start of november, to give the visitors some hope.

but i was extinguished, arsenal countered and but that was extinguished, arsenal countered and scored from close range to give his manager an early christmas present. we can enjoy, tomorrow and on monday we will continue working. arsenal maintains its push for a championship league spot, but burnley‘s difficulties continued. let's just wrap up a couple of the other results for you, southampton's revival under new manager. ralph hassenhuttl continues, they won 3—1 at huddersfield, redmond, ings and 0bafemi with their goals, and they are 3 points above the reelagation zone. huddersfield are well and truly in it. let's show you the table on what has been a very good day for liverpool. they started it 4 points clear after last nights win at wolves and that's hpow the lead will stand at christmas. and that's how the lead will stand at christmas. after city slipped up at palace, tottenham will hope to keep pace tomorrow. they are at everton.

arsenal are now level on points with chelsea after that surpising defeat for the blues. big drop to watford who won at west ham today. bournemouth still going well, they won at home to brighton this is the bottom of the table, fulham kept their first clean sheet of the season, a goaless draw at newcastle but they remain bottom. huddersfield also on ten points, they are beginnning to be cut adrift of safety, they play each other next weekend a six pointer. that's all the football for now, we'll have the scottish premiership and championship results coming up later in the programme, let's get some other sport now, jeanette to rugby union's premiership, where the top two sides met in the big game of the day. and top of the table —

just ahead of the chiefs. it was billed as a thriller, and it didn't disappoint...as james burford reports. separating these two sides amid a rallying cry. featuring one of these two sometimes both, such as the quality on show. just how many points is his marksmanship worth? a matchup of pure physicality saracens asserting early dominance, more reminiscent of a battlefield. and this being the top two, there is not a moments rest. the chiefs take charge and they tried. touching down to set the tone. if ever there was a premiership game decided on sheer strength alone, this was it. the visitors simply could not deal with exeter‘s power. while very well worked, it would not change the outcome of this battle. still reeling from last season's defeat in the final, exeter

delivered a mauling of their own. saracens beaten for the first time in eight months. so exeter move ahead of saracens to the top of the gallagher premiership. elsewhere today there was a big win for leicester over harlequins, whilst sale comfortably beat bristol. in the pro 11! 0spreys ended scarlets' impressive run of 10 consecutive derby victories with a 19—12 win at the liberty stadium. there were 11! points from the boot of sam davies, and luke morgan's seventh try of the season helped 0spreys reclaim the bragging rights from their west wales rivals. as manchester and london prepare to host a big night of uk boxing — there's a fight going—on outside the ring over the scheduling clash which leaves two high—profile events — both on pay—per—view tv — at the same time. in one corner, derek chisora and dillian white are preparing for a heavyweight

grudge match, in the other, josh warrington makes the first defence of his ibf featherweight title against carl frampton. adam wild reports. boxing rivalries often run deep. it is what makes the sport is spectacle. it is what makes the sport a spectacle. now fans are being asked to take their side. in london the much anticipated rematch between derek and dillian, while on the same night in manchester, carl frampton fights josh warrington for a world title. both televised in asking armchair fans to pay almost £20 for the privilege. two pay—per—view fights and it means as a boxing fan, they have to either pay for them both or none. no, it is not a good thing for boxing. that appears to be the view of many, the conflict faced by fight fans now becoming a war of words between the promoters. it's stupid, disrespectful to the fighters and the fans, 500,000 fans and 250,000 of them watch one

and in the other, both sides lose it is a fight game, but a terrible business, but it is what it is. we are not here to disrupt people were plot people, we just get on with our business. the pay—per—view is big business. his last fight was bought an estimated 470,000 times, but british boxing's success comes at a price. boxing is really flourishing in its because there are so many good fighters in big fights at the number of free weekends where television companies can put the fights on on those weekends and when there are arenas big enough to house the expected turnout, they are free as well. getting all of those factors in places not easy. boxers and boxing tonight going

head—to—head in the ring and on the box. also coming up in the programme. we catch up with christian wade, two months after he shocked the world of rugby union by quitting for the nfl. and gareth southgate tells us how some unexpected items kept the england squad entertained at the world cup. i don't know who gave their budget to sign off, but they had unicorns and the rubber chickens to keep people entertained. let's catch up with the rest of the day's football with 0lly. there's a fabulous title race shaping up in scotland, 4 teams separated by just three points before todays matches celtic are three points clear at the top ahead of aberdeen after both won today. celtic beat bottom club dundee 3—0, the don's were 2—0 winners over hearts.

kilmarnock lost a bit of ground with a surprising draw at hamilton. it was also i—all between hibs and livingstone. good win for st mirren at motherwell. rangers will move up to second if they get at least a draw at stjohnstone tomorrow. it's tight at the top of the championship too. leeds, norwich, west brom all right in the mix and it's norwich. who are back at the top of the league. teemu pukki's late winner at blackburn enough to take them ahead of leeds for now, they play aston villa tomorrow. big win for west brom too — 4—0 over rotherham whilst middlesborough beat reading. the result was never really in doubt, but real madrid have added yet another piece of silverware to their collection. this afternoon they won the club world cup. they beat al ain, from the uae 4—1. luka modric and sergio ramos were amongst the scorers.

its the third time in a row real have won the title. so much football to look forward to in 2019, but it's not a bad time to reflect on the year that's gone, 2018 dominated by the world cup in russia. there's our own tournament review that you can catch on bbc news and on the bbc iplayer there's a really nice interview with the england manager gareth southgate. .. who decides that i'm going to get the unicorn? was chief unicorn operator? unicorns and darts,. but you have to have those, i know you cannot buy darts there, but all of that stuff is orchestrated a

choreographed beforehand. it takes thought. physical performance coaches, i don't know who given the budget to sign off, but they had unicorns and rubber chickens to keep people entertained so, yeah again, they are approaching things differently. why? because part of the recovery is to keep the players in the water as long as you can. but those small things that are fun, they canjust those small things that are fun, they can just go and mess around really. that is part of the switch off, without appealing feeling too conditioned and organised. i don't think anyone likes organised fund, we've been in those situations and you can imagine 23 football is not wanting to be up for that. sports memorabilia is a big business. autographs, signed shirts, selfies all high on the wish list of sports fans all over the world, but one former footballer has gone much, much further. nils—ericjohansson played

for leicester and blackburn, but is seen as a legend at swedish champions aik, so much so that he's now offering fans the chance to own his dna. here he is to explain how it works. when i first got the offer to do this, it is quite a scary thought, i was quite, you become a bit taken aback by what does this mean. has it gone too far, the autograph is pretty much dying because everyone not to excel fees. the selfie is now the new autograph and takes pictures of the hero now, and this is like the next step to bringing you your player home with you. his dna that this professor in switzerland and came up with by accident, he actually worked with dna memory and

then they find a way to crystallize dna, which means you can keep it for 500 years. it's almost likejurassic park and away. —— in a way. so he might see more of me in the future, who knows? we are selling it with a captain's armband, i am only selling 371, the amount of games i played for the cloud so it is a bit scary, i understand that but it is quite fun as well to try and push it a little bit and see what the fans like. lets have a quick look at some of the other stories making the headlines today. . .. how about this for a catch in the big bash from the sydney sixers captain daniel hughes? it proved a turning point and they went to beat the perth scorchers by 17 runs. england'sjoe denly and tom curran both played but strugged to make an impact on the match. australian cricketer

cameron bancroft says he almost quit the game to become a yoga teacher, after he was banned for nine months for his role in the ball—tampering scandal. bancroft‘s ban ends next week and he'll play in the big bash on december the 30th. and fifth seed daryl gurney is out of pdc world darts championships after losing 11—3 to jamie lewis at alexandra palace. gurney missed a match—winning dart, before lewis won four legs in a row to claim a thrilling win. to the 0lympia horse show in london, where britain's william whitaker won the world cup jump—off. whittaker and his horse, utamaro decaussine, finished the course in a time of 37.02 seconds which proved to be too fast for the other riders in one of showjumpings biggest competitions. william's uncle michael finished fourth. i've been coming here ever since i

was two or three years old, so it is a lwa ys was two or three years old, so it is always been a family tradition and it was kind of, ever since i was young it was the thing that spurred me on. i want to win the world cup at olympia and it happened. christian wade is the third highest try—scorer in premiership history. he's played for england and toured with the lions. so when he announced in october that he was leaving rugby union to take up american football, it came as a pretty big surprise. he's spent the last couple of months in florida, training and getting his head around the intricacies of the nfl before starting a gruelling three—month training camp injanuary. he's home for christmas at the moment, and nipped in to see mark chapman and 0si umenyiora on the nfl show. so you have been in miami, training in miami, we've got some of the shots from it. what did the american football coaches feedback to you after this? they said like, i've got

the physical attributes and my footwork, the ability to catch the ball, obviously from rugby, and i guess my addition to an extent. it's just about the intricate details, the foot patterns knowing when to cut and not to face a five yards, it's five yards not four and a half, it's five yards not four and a half, it's five. in being able to secure and catch the ball all the way in, because i'm so used to catch you get and then looking for defenders, but in nfl, it is different. the ball is the most important thing. if you get it, and we should have the ball. let's just hear from 0le gunnar solskjaer after his manchester united side beat cardiff 5—1 on his first match as caretaker boss... they are good players, we are not going to beat cardiff if this

becomes a fight, they are bigger than us, if the ball was up in the air, so we need to get the ball down, pass it quickly, moved quickly and the third goal i think i was just different. ballet on skis — sounds like an idea for a new celebrity reality show, but it was big in the 1980's. there hasn't been an official international competition since 2000, but one man is determined to bring it back. mike bushell went to ‘the chill factor‘ in manchester to find out more. not so much dancing on ice, this is strictly on snow, ski ballet was popular across the world when resorts are opening up, even if the commentators at the time were a little bit confused. if only he would make up his mind on which way he is going. the routines flourished on the new dry slopes for a time,

there was ambition of glory and metals and winning the demonstrations board in the 1988 in 1992 olympic games. but then came the snowboard. and freestyle skiing ballet was history, competitions stop. until now, when the figure has arrived. a former british champion determined to give it a new lease on life. a little bit of gymnastics, a little bit of acrobatics a little bit of dance and a little bit like ice skating. like all sports, they go through phases and along came snowboarding in it took the enthusiasm away from ballet, which isa enthusiasm away from ballet, which is a great sport of love, but there's room for this as well. the christmas tunes and the ski ballet

performed here, the pure wets, the spins and indeed the dramatic collapse. wow! seeing this these daysis collapse. wow! seeing this these days is so rare. even rarer than spotting someone dressed like a moose. it came from the hot docking times and it was something we thought we could do on the short artificial slopes in the uk. all the way around. look at me. beautiful. nearly two decades now, how accessible is up to the modern skier and snowboarder? the kick turn however, was a real slippery slope. lifted up high. beautiful. not to spin itaround. lifted up high. beautiful. not to spin it around. now stand up. and thatis spin it around. now stand up. and that is your first freestyle move. all the way around. the and together. that is superb, almost of the cold ballet routine you've got

already. far from that he did have variety, to coming town. the fact they died out and was replaced by snowboarding and freestyle skiing, there is nothing else quite like it and an opportunity to express yourself artistically but also to get really superfit. it may never graced the olympics again, but at least it is alive and kicking once more. a recap, manchester city surprisingly beaten by crystal palace, manchester united winning five — one at cardiff. that's all from sportsday. we'll have more at half past seven. no sign of forecast in the uk, mild frost and will have, but we won't

have his today's sunshine tomorrow. looks much cloudier, some rain as well, the esteemed showers today, coming in around this area of low pressure. this general large area of low pressure with its weather fronts that will bring cloudier skies and rainfor that will bring cloudier skies and rain for the coming day. today, we got that lovely sunshine around particular southern areas, and images really gone above freezing for the showers have been coming through on that brisk breeze, but the brief of easing in the is a guide to the rest of this evening and we get more cloud rolling in. the rain is likely to get much of southern england, wales and northern ireland towards more and elsewhere had of it, the clouds just increase, temperatures just above freezing in the town cities but it will be cold enough forfrost, the town cities but it will be cold enough for frost, particularly across scotland one or two icy patches, some fog as well which at this time of year with little strength in the december sunday cleared away, will linger for much of the day, but for many of us it is

mild leumi affairon of the day, but for many of us it is mild leumi affair on sunday. iran won't take long to reach the coastline as you can see, as we go through the heavier outbreaks across northern ireland, southern areas in the morning but it may well lead to a night ease in the afternoon, low cloud and murky grey conditions and further south creates drizzling and heavier rain coming back. a bit of the early cast, it looks great, fog my old at least for the best of the sunshine will undoubtedly be across northern and central scotland and the ridge of high pressure which builds into monday to christmas eve, tends to squeeze the weather front out, so it is a weakening feature on christmas eve. so most of us will enjoy some sunshine and dry weather but i think it will be quite a bit of cloud around, especially across the southern half of the uk. best chance for the north, and again it will be a chilly day when the fog lingers and we might not get much

above freezing for example and still relatively mild for the south. and that relatively mild weather continues for christmas day, although there will be some early morning fog and frost but for the moment, although looking dry it is still cloudier than i would like at least. this is bbc news. the headlines: the former leader of the liberal democrats lord paddy ashdown has died at the ageof 77. he was the first to lead the party after the liberals merged with the social democrats in 1988, and remained in post until 1999. he also served as international high representative to bosnia after the war. police investigating the drones at gatwick search a house in west sussex, following the arrest of a man and a woman from crawley.

meanwhile, the airport has so far run a full service today but passengers continue to suffer delays and cancellations. we don't have a very long holiday