island, summer breaks of northwest island, summer breaks of returning a bit heavier overnight. keeping the cloudier than into western parts of northern ireland, whereas elsewhere, it's clear, if you missed of fog and patches, where the dumpsters will get close to freezing, and the colder spots for perhaps a touch of frost in a few places. but i look at this for easter sunday, it is sunshine, just about all the way, but again northern western isles in scotland, further inland, more clouds, outbreaks of rain, a breeze, it's cooler here, some clouds to the western side of northern ireland as well. in the sunshine though, we are going to have the warmth. notice the breezy conditions in the far northwest, but like twins making it feel very warm indeed, we could well give the warmest easter sunday on record a run for its money. the temperature speaking again in the mid—20s. more of the same for easter monday, —— it does cool off though next week. hello, this is bbc news with chris rodgers.

the headlines. police in londonderry investigating the murder of the journalist, leera mckee, continue to question two teenagers and make a fresh appealfor information. lyra's killers have succeeded in only one thing, and that is in uniting the entire community in condemnation. over 750 arrests since monday, with police in london calling in extra officers from neighbouring forces as climate protests continue. the head of the force urges demostrators to move on. please go to the marble arch, where you can protest lawfully. stop your unlawful protest. and if you don't want to go to marble arch, then go home. the hottest day of the year, as temperatures soar to 25.5 celsius. as ifi as if i needed to tell you that. now on bbc news, it's

time for sportsday. hello, and welcome to sportsday, with hugh woozencroft and karthi gna nasegaram. the headlines this evening. pep praises his players, as manchester city put their european exit behind them and return to the top of the premier league table. chris hughton credits the efforts of his players as brighton take a crucial point in their bid to avoid relegation. and billy vunipola stars as saracens reach another rugby champions cup final. also coming up in the programme... there's a teamgb fightback in the fed cup as konta and co look to knock out kazakhstan. and can khan beat crawford? we'll head stateside to madison square garden for the latest.

hello. welcome to the programme. well after that incredible match in the champions league in midweek, manchester city welcomed tottenham hotspur to the etihad stadium once again, as the sides met for the third time in 11 days. there were fewer fireworks but manchester city did manage to pick themselves up from european disappointment. to move to the top of the premier league, thanks to a 1—0 win, as jo currie reports. after wednesday night's european extravaganza between these two teams, the repeat premier league fixture was always going to struggle to live up to the same excitement. or was it? city needing to lick their wounds, knowing a win would take them back to the top of the table. and just like mid week, the end—to—end drama came early. spurs starting the quicker, with son heung—min testing edison, who was equal to it, before city struck the first vital blow. sergio aguero setting up an unlikely hero.

18—year—old phil foden with his first top—flight goal to settle city's nerves. a much changed spurs side struggled to carve out many opportunities in the first half, but after the break had a penalty appeal waved away for this handball. city came agonisingly close to stretching their lead, were it not for the foot of paulo gazzaniga denying raheem sterling, who couldn't quite believe his eyes. it didn't matter, though, the defending champions held on to claim the win and exact revenge. all eyes now turn to liverpool tomorrow in this ever—changing title race. jo currie, bbc news. it was a really tough game, after our mental defeat last wednesday. the last two games were really tough for us. and they qualified for the champions league, they cannot lose anything today and we cannot lose the premier league. and when you play this game, what happened was really tough.

i know i couldn't have done what they have done today. we competed really well. saving a few actions, i think he was the most decisive player on the pitch. we deserve the draw, but i think i am happy — disappointed but happy with the performance of the team. we were always on the game. that is the very top of the table for today taken care of. hugh has more on that. there are important games today at the other end of the premier league table. brighton went to wolves having lost five consecutive matches in all competitions for the first time in 12 years. but they ended that run and got what could be a vital point in their bid for survival. it finished goalless at molineux with wolves having the lion's share of possession and the chances. that result leaves chris hughton's brighton three points above the drop

zone with three matches to play. i think with the emotion going into the game, and probably not too many people felt we would get any type of result today. and i think in the manner that we had to get the result, then i think that speaks volumes for this group of players. and what we have to be able to do is take that type of spirit and determination into these next four games. i think we had good game. but this is football, this football. we had combinations in chances, i don't know how many corners and situations. it's difficult, you've got to break it in so we are organising the box. no spaces, good goalkeepers. so, it's football. newcastle united can guarantee survival if they win this weekend and cardiff lose.

they've held up their end of the bargain — beating fellow strugglers southampton 3—1 at st james park. the made the best possible start — two goals in four first half minutes from ayoze perez giving them a cushion. southampton were reinvigorated after the break with mario lemina converting one of a host of saints chances, but they were left ruing missed opportunities as perez nodded in for his first newcastle hat—trick, leaving rafa benitez‘s side on the verge of another top—flight season. west ham had lost four of their last five league games before today, and welcomed a team in the shape of leicester, who'd won four of their last five. the formbook didn't count for much though harvey barnes rescued a 2—2 draw for leicester with a controversial stoppage time equaliser. lucas perez thought he'd made it 3—1 to the hammers, but his goal was wrongly ruled offside and barnes ended up scoring from the resulting counter attack. despite rescuing a point leicester

fall a place to eighth in the table, while west ham remain iith. we deserve more, especially because we scored a goal, 3—1. but that was the mistake of the lineman on manchester united. have you had a chance to see that goal that was ruled out? yes, i saw that goal. he was one metre on—site. to come back twice against... really pleased with the second half, much more like ourselves in terms of the speed of the game in creativity. a lot of learning taking place in the game, because there's so much we can improve on. but what they do have is that mentality in spirit, and obviously that's very important to

have on a good team. there are another couple of other matches to tell you about. huddersfield are already down — they were beaten 2—1 by watford — their fa cup hero gerard deloufeu with a couple of goals in that one. while another team who will be in the championship next year — fulham — got a surprise 1—0 win at bournemouth. let's have a look at the top of the table. manchester city are a point clear at the top, with a huge trip to manchester united to come next wednesday. second placed liverpool travel to cardiff city tomorrow looking to respond. watford's win moves them above leicester and wolves up to seventh. this is how the bottom looks for now. bournemouth stay 12th and confirmation of the vital point for brighton. cardiff will be desperate to respond tomorrow, but it couldn't be tougher as they welcome title chasing liverpool.

plenty still to play for, it will be a great end to the season. any thoughts of an easter sunday title party for celtic have been spoiled after rangers kept up theirfaint hopes in the scottish premiership with a 3—1 win against hearts at tynecastle. steven gerrard's side now trail the leaders by eight points with four games to play. ben croucher reports. if the title race in scotland has become a bit predictable as of late, then rangers and hearts tend to squabble for the best of the rest. rest is what the rangers have not been short of lately. playing for the first time in a fortnight, jemaine showed no signs of rust. for hearts, well, they didn't help themselves. careless in possession, chasing shadows without it, and soon chasing the game. jack, 2—0. at half—time, it was rangers who got the ball rolling after the break. nick look at its's finish,

48 minutes gone, more than enough for some hearts fans to bear. the one that stuck around weren't exactly thrilled, although they could take some solace in mclean's had amounting to barely more than consolation. the win should cement second in the table for rangers. for hearts today, very much second best. ben croucher, bbc news. four more games in the scottish premiership today. kilmarnock had three players sent off as they lost 1—0 at home to aberdeen. those two teams swap places, with aberdeen up to third. elsewhere there were wins for st mirren and stjohnstone, whilst hamilton drew with motherwell. this weekend sees more great european action but this time it's the semi finals of the rugby union champions cup. two former winners, saracens and munster met and it was the english premiership champions who prevailed, to reach their fourth final in six seasons. our rugby union correspondent

chrisjones watched their 32—16 win. this was another competence of knockout performance by saracens, reaching a third final in four seasons. reaching a third final in four seasons. and while they won at their best, it was more than enough. just as he has done for the past week, billy grabbed the headlines. he was booed by the crowd throughout, even confronted by a fan after the game. he was at the heart of the saracens effort on the pitch, as austin hillwood reports. the champions cup bathed in sunshine. conditions perfect for running rugby, but the battle between these two european heavyweights was a war of attrition. neither side willing to give an inch. owen farrell's boot on four separate occasions, just about enough to keep sarries ahead at the break. after all, negotiating at the last stages of the champions cup is what they do best. twice saracens have won the competition in the last three years, so they know how to take their chances.

michael rhodes, the man to finally break the irish down. but after tasting defeat in the last six european finals, munster were not going out on a whimper. the turnover enough to put deer and sweetened them into the corner. hope for the irish faithful soon to be bulldozed by billy. perhaps the toughest week of his career, the forward back to what he does best. saracens too strong and too powerful, and in the end, just too good. austin halewood, bbc news. saracens dominant in the coventry sunshine, they will meet leinster in new cancel in three weeks' time. as the men in black look to cement their status as one of the great sites in european rest to make —— newcastle. the european challenge cup is also at the semi final stage, but sale sharks have been knocked out by la rochelle.

in an exciting first half, england international chris ashton's try meant that the scores were tied at i7—all at half—time. but la rochelle came on strong after the break, man of the match gregory alldritt with the decisive try. 24—20 the final score. harlequins are also agaist french opposition in their semi, they face clermont auvergne at 8pm this evening. tennis and great britain are taking on kazakhstan in the fed cup this weekend. it has been a topsy turvy day with both of the singles matches going to three sets. it isi-i. the bbc‘s tennis correspondent, russell fuller, is at the copperbox arenal. incredbly noisy, did atmospehre have anything to do withjohanna konta's slow start in the opening match? i think she found it hard in the circumstances in this amazing atmosphere created by 5800 people inside this purpose built copper box arena that was built for the london olympics. she also didn't like the

very lively because band in the early stages. they had drums in a trombone, playing some rather ironic limits when she was missing a few shots in the early stages. but to her credit, after her slow and nervy start, she came through very well. in the end she one comfortably, although it struggled to impose yourself on serena diaz. she has a record now in singles, konta has lost some matches in a row, and as it turns out it is a crucial point in the court for great britain. she's quite a character, isn't she? and that again had lots of drama in it with incredible celebration scenes at the end of that one. she's a very combustible character. bull did incredibly well to make the match so close, but she will be

correcting missed opportunities when you look at the scoreboard, she had problems with her back in the second set. we thought she was out of the match. she came back brilliantly at to lead 4— love in the decider. three match points, but also —— ultimately some brilliance defence. she won the third tie—breaker 8—6, and i'm looking forward to hearing what she has to say afterwards. but she wears her heart on her sleeve, putinseva, a bit of bad blood between the teams. therefore promotion for the world group hangs in the balance going into sunday's river singles, and then potentially a decisive doubles match. can you put in the context would it would mean for great britain to get through this and when promotion? the fed cup is changing in terms of the history, they haven't won in the last 60 years to get that promotion before. if they win the match tomorrow, they will be in the world fed cup for the first time since 9093. what will that entail? nobody

quite knows. —— 1993. the idf in an ideal world will have a 12 team world cup final in a city to be decided next april. and that will be preceded by some playoff in february. if britain wins tomorrow, they will be in the mix for that. but at the moment that is not com pletely but at the moment that is not completely signed up. there'll be lots of money at stake for the players in the host city must find that money. can that be financed properly? it's a bit vague, no one quite knows what will happen. but what britain can say is that if get the tie broken tomorrow, they will bea the tie broken tomorrow, they will be a world cup team for the first time since 1993. thanks very much, russell. now it doesn't happen very often, but rafael nadal has been beaten on clay. the 11—time monte carlo masters champion lost his semi final to italy's fabio fognini in straight sets. fognini will make his debut in a masters final tomorrow.

nadal had won his last 18 matches in monte carlo and has only lost four of 75 matches there in his entire career. fognini will play world number 48 dusan lajovic in the final. lajovic beat novak djokovic‘s conqueror, daniil medvedev 7—5, 6—1 to become the lowest ranked monte carlo finalist since 2001. it's day one of the world snooker championship at the crucible theatre in sheffield, and defending champion mark williams is in control of his first round match against martin gould. he won five frames in a row to take a 6—3 lead into the interval. this is seven frames now, mark williams has 2a on martin gould. live pictures there from the crucible. you can watch the action

on the bbc red button, as well as the bbc website. a scrappy tent frame with a poor shot from williams to ta ke frame with a poor shot from williams to take that lead he has. he has now made it 7—4. it's make or break time for britian's amir khan. in the early hours of tomorrow morning he fights terrence crawford in new york. khan is challenging crawford for the wbo welterweight world title. khan is the heavy underdog but says he has "a point to prove." our reporter ade adedoyin is at madison square garden for us. he has a point to prove, amir khan has achieved a lot in his career. as a 17—year—old he won a silver medal at the athens olympics. but it's been a roller coasterjourney in the professional ranks because he suffered for defeats, three of those we re suffered for defeats, three of those were quite bad knockouts. those are the ones that people remember. people are questioning whether he still has what it takes to compete

at the very top of the sport. so this is a really important night, because his career stalled somewhat after he was stopped back in 2016, a brutal knockout. he's up against one of the bettis —— best fighters inc. terrence crawford, a man who is trying to achieve the cross crossover appeal that he feels he deserves. so for amir khan, that is not lost on him. he has to rank up there alongside the olympic medal and might to world titles. it could be at the top of that, yeah. so we will be difficult to fight, but i'm ready for the difficult tasks, to win this fight to become world champion again, as well as to achieve all my goals. really big night for amir khan. it's interesting, in the hotel where i'm staying, crawford is there, the

whole life be —— lobby is full of supporters. maybe he just whole life be —— lobby is full of supporters. maybe hejust doesn't have that travelling fan base, so i'm suspecting madison square garden tonight will be a pro crawford crowd with lots of pressure on amir khan. he's been here and one here before. can he roll back the years and deliver that kind of performance ain? deliver that kind of performance again? we will find out in a few hours' time. thank you very much. 4am in the morning they will be giving you commentary of that time. fingers crossed for amir khan. plenty to come, let's take a quick look at some of day's other stories. and former olympic 1,500—metres champion asbel kiprop has been banned for four years for failing a drugs test. the kenyan tested positive for the hormone, epo in an out—of—competition test 18 months ago. kiprop had claimed his sample might have been tampered with but that has now been dismissed by an anti—doping panel. georgia davies has added 50 metre backstroke gold to her 100 metre title

at the british championships in glasgow. but she was run close, winning byjust a tenth of a second. ben proud dominated the 50 metres freestyle, the british record holder took gold by more than half a second. steve smith made a second successful return to captaincy since the australian ball tampering scandal. he hit 59 as he lead rajasthan royals to a five wicket win over mumbai indians in the indian premier league. smith is still banned from any leadership role in australian cricket. england's ben stokes failed to score a run for the royals, but took a catch. in netball, loughborough lightning beat strathclyde sirens by 594m. it was the first match of the super league's big easter weekend, with each team playing two games in two days at two different venues. manchester united women sealed the women's championship title in some style as they thrashed crystal palace 7—0. lauren james scored four goals as united took the title just 11

months after being reformed. they were promoted to the super league on wednesday. the nominations have been revealed for the bbc women's footballer of the year award. it's an honour that you, the fans, can vote for right now and up until 2 may which is when we will announce the winner right here, and the shortlist is a stellar line—up. hey, i'm perennial harder, and i play for germany. i think i always dreamed about it. i wrote an essay when i was ten years old that i wa nted when i was ten years old that i wanted to be the best player in the world. and i've always been working ha rd world. and i've always been working hard for it, but i'm not sure. i thought that it really would happen. i'm a striker... cheering.

i grew i'm a striker... cheering. igrew up i'm a striker... cheering. i grew up in a family with equal rights. i have a mum who gave me that voice, as well as my dad. i never look at myself as different. i'm lindsey her rand, i play midfield for the portland thorns. sinclair seeing if she can find a little... sometimes i would miss class so i could go watch the champions league. i was a passionate young girl that i wanted to watch games and train extra, do all these things. i'm a striker for the chicago red styles, australia. i think my best view is my pace.

sometimes i'm quicker than a lot of people, and i don't think it's a skill, it's just people, and i don't think it's a skill, it'sjust something i'm gifted with, having quick instincts. and i guess being... translation: i take pleasure in football. it is my life and passion. if football doesn't exist, i can't express myself. without football, life is less interesting and too serious. voting is now open. go to bbc.com/womensfootball. make your choice for who you think should win the bbc women's footballer of the year award. you can find full details and our privacy notice on the bbc sport website. and the shortlist is out for the professional footballers' association players' player of the year award. manchester city have three footballers on the list — sergio aguero, raheem sterling,

and bernardo silva. while their title rivals liverpool have both virgil van dijk and sadio mane on the shortlist, which is completed by chelsea's eden hazard. difficult choice that. maybe it's just this week, but i think... he hasn't played that much because he was away for the cup. that's all from sportsday. we'll have more throughout the evening. that is it for now. hello, thanks forjoining me. the warm easter sunshine is set to continue. today, the top temperature was 25 celsius for the first time

since october. that sunshine may have been hazy in places, but most of us felt that warmth. and yes, that will continue for the rest of the easter weekend. clearly on the satellite picture, the further north you are in scotland, notjust more cloud around but rain and places, applying to the west of ireland as well. close to a weather system, as well. close to a weather system, as we go through the rest of the weekend, it will start to pull away westwards, bringing you back into the sunshine, particularly for easter monday. let's take a look at things through the rest of the night. we may well see some heavy bursts of rain coming through to the cloud. it's the west of northern ireland, see if few mist and fog patches developing through yorkshire into the east midlands. most places are into the east midlands. most places a re clear into the east midlands. most places are clear overnight. it may well be chilly enough there's some rural parts of central england just as it was last night to get a touch of frost. whilst the early mist and fog here has gotten in the morning, plenty of sunshine across england

and wales, the eastern northern ireland through most of scotland. but the further west you are, you will see... holding the temperature down, bre's office he making a dent in the temperatures towards the north sea and english channel coast, but most of us seem to be in the high teens and low 20s, but bear in mind pollen levels for us are high. tree pollen, if that's something you suffer from, take precautions tree pollen, if that's something you sufferfrom, take precautions as tree pollen, if that's something you suffer from, take precautions as the weekend goes on. this is a look at things through sunday night into easter monday. lot of dry and clear weather around once again. some outbreaks of rain into the far northwest of but starting to pull away stop still fairly chilly through central and eastern parts of england down to 3—4 celsius. for easter monday, noticed the big improvement where you have the cloud and brain. western side of northern ireland, but for england and wales it could be more in the way of cloud starting to move—in, turning the increasingly hazy. it is still warm

for us. the big weather change happens in the week ahead. showers in turning cooler.

this is bbc news i'm chris rogers. the headlines. police in londonderry investigating the murder of thejournalist, lyra mckee — continue to question two teenagers and make a fresh appealfor information. lyra's killers have succeeded in only one thing and that is uniting the entire community in condemnation. more than 750 arrests in six days, as climate change protests continue in central london. the head of the force urges demostrators to move on. please go to marble arch, where you can protest lawfully. stop your unlawful protest.