hello and welcome to sportsday — i'm gavin ramjaun. aston villa are back in the premier league — beating derby in the championship playoff final. aston villa are back in the premier league after three seasons away in the second—tier championship. they will benefit by at least £170 million across three years. that could go up to 300 million if they manage to stay out for one season. there was a pretty entertaining player final we had here there was a pretty entertaining playerfinal we had here at there was a pretty entertaining player final we had here at wembley stadium, the deadlock was broken when the ball was shouldered in just before the break. a key time to score of course. villa went 2—0 up when the ball was dropped under pressure from john mcginn of aston

villa. 2—0 to aston villa, derby then had to go to try and save their season. then had to go to try and save their season. 0nly had about two minutes left. with about ten left they got one back, jack mariette‘s shot we think touched on by martin maicon, not clear if he got a touch but it was pretty academic. prince william in the stands could hardly bear to watch. there were so much tension in wembley and then it was all released on that final whistle. villa are absolutely jubilant, derby com pletely absolutely jubilant, derby completely gutted. they will have to stay in the championship another season. stay in the championship another season. villa will of course be much richer, a club with former european champions, former english league champions, former english league champions will feel they belong in the premier league and that is just where they will play their football next season. i know what it means to these aston villa fans. arsenal in the fa cup final and last year against fulham, thatis final and last year against fulham, that isjust rewards for them and i'm glad they are going home happy. loved it, a bit nervy at the end but

absolutely buzzing now. we are back in the premier league, back to where we should be. i'm absolutely over the moon. it was a bit nerve-racking but we got there in the end. it's beena but we got there in the end. it's been a long time coming. absolutely amazing. i can't believe it, like, where the villa and we've done it! you've got to love it, haven't you? the cricket world cup is almost upon us — it all starts on thursday morning, when england play south africa at the oval. and that's where england signed off their preparations with a thumping warm—up win over afghanistan today. austin halewood was watching. a chance for one last loosen before the world cup. a chance forjofra archer to once again justify his selection, and once again he did. a first wicket and then a second soon after. england were on their game, with the ball and in the field. captain naib run out forjust 13, the start of an afghan collapse. four wickets in eight balls forjust two runs. it wasn't good to watch.

but their fans finally did have something to cheer about. 44 from mohammed nabi dragging them to 160. a score that england fancied chasing. first ball, first four and that set the tone. jason roy at his brilliant, brutal best. a quickfire 50 from him withjonny bairstow never too far behind. a clear gulf in class as england raced to a nine wicket victory. the weight now almost over and england have never been better prepared. i think we are all eager to get going. it has been like i say a long four years since the last world cup but now we are in a good place as a tea m but now we are in a good place as a team and as a squad. hopefully now coming into this world cup on thursday we can put good performances in and stick to what we have been doing and hopefully it will work out well for us. one man that england were happy to have part of the squad today

was bowler mark wood. he was struggling with a foot injury, but has been passed fit for that world cup opener. to the french open now — and johanna konta is into the second round — having lost her four previous first—round matches at roland garros. kyle edmund will have to wait till tomorrow to learn his fate — his match finely poised in the deciding set with jeremy chardy. 0ur tennis correspondent russell fuller explains. 22 minutes past nine in the evening with the fifth set deadlocked at five games all after ten consecutive holes of serve. the tournament referee came onto the court. before we saw him, we knew it was happening because you could hear the boos and jeers and whistles from the crowd, a french crowd enjoying watching jeremy chardy in this fabulous match against kyle edmund. he spoke to both players, the light was fading, they decided that would be it for they decided that would be it for the days of the crowd didn't get to see the conclusion and instead they will complete the match. edmund was a set up, two sets to one up, but he lost the full set quite easily so he's done really well. fighting back

in that fifth and deciding set. making sure they are deadlocked, not exactly the recipe for a great night sleep but he will take it. johanna konta, that when must be boosting her confidence? she definitely needed that win because at roland garros she had lost all four matches she played. herform coming into this french open was spectacular. the runner up this french open was spectacular. the runnerup in this french open was spectacular. the runner up in the prestigious tournament in rome. sure enough, she won. there was a little concern in the second set when she was a couple of break points down at 4—1; but she won 6—4, 6—4, the monkey is off her back and she will play lauren davis of the united states in round two. how about the other big names, how do they get on? serena williams lost the first set to retire the janko. alarm bells were ringing, particularly because williams has

had knee problems this evening but novak djokovic, dafydd adele winning easily but there was one casualty, caroline wozniacki's miserable year continued. she was knocked out in the very first round. webb let's have a look at some of the day's other sports headlines. mo farah won the vitality london 10,000 race — the seventh time he's won it. the olympic champion was the honorary starter for the event — before finishing ahead of fellow britons andrew butchart and nick goolab. steph twell retained the women's title, as she continues her bid to make the british squad for next year's olympic games in tokyo. twell got a bronze medal in the 5,000 metres at the european championships in 2016, and says she needs to give herself the best chance of olympic selection. gareth southgate has finalised his 23—man squad for the uefa nations league finals next month. tottenham full—back kieran trippier drops out, along with spurs' team—mate harry winks. southampton pair nathan redmond and james ward—prowse are also cut from the original 27 but will stay in the training camp.

the newcastle united owner mike ashley is in talks to sell the club to billionaire sheikh khaled bin zayed al neha—yan. he's a cousin of the manchester city owner sheikh mansour, and failed with a £2 billion bid to buy liverpool last year. it's thought the deal to buy newcastle could be worth £350 million. every tottenham fan will be desperate to know the answer to this question — will harry kane be fit for the champions league final? a few weeks ago it looked almost impossible — he'd injured his ankle in the quarterfinals and his season looked to be over. but today, a little more hope for kane. his boss — mauricio pochettino — says it's looking positive . and didn't rule out kane being available to play against liverpool in madrid. we have one week ahead and this saturday to evaluate, and to see how

he is progressing in his problem. but of course like i told you in the past, it is so important that he feels well and he is very positive. we will see what happens. i still cannot tell you he will be fit 100%, or he is going to be available to play from the beginning on the bench or maybe out, but we are so, so positive. before the champions league final, it's the europa league final — an all—english affair between arsenal and chelsea on wednesday. hundreds of fans have already started the mammoth trip from london to azerbaijan where the final is being held. 0ur sports correspondent david 0rnstein is in the capital baku. welcome to the olympic stadium in baku, venue for the 2019 europa league final where the last few preparations are taking place. we have arrived, we have seen supporters of chelsea and arsenal along the way, many more to come in the next couple of days. it was reported both clubs had handed back

around half of their allocated 6000 tickets. what we have been heard todayis tickets. what we have been heard today is that arsenal have almost sold them all, chelsea less so, and both clubs are expecting quite a few fa ns both clubs are expecting quite a few fans internationally as well. as for the football itself, arsenal arrived on saturday, so they have already been training in the azerbaijan capital whereas chelsea arrived today. they also have a reported injury concern over n'golo kante. as far as we know, arsenal have a clean bill of health. they are expecting around 60,000 bill of health. they are expecting around 60 , 000 spectators bill of health. they are expecting around 60,000 spectators inside the stadium both sets of players will be here to train and hold news conferences tomorrow afternoon and as for the match itself, it is on wednesday, eight o'clock kick—off uk time, 11pm locally. the match has been dominated by non—footballing issues, from traffic, travel, politics, but now it focuses to the game itself. it will be pretty warm, but nothing too perturbing for

either side of the players. for what will be the biggest sporting event this game has ever changed —— this country has ever staged. before we go, just time to give you a behind to give you a behind the scenes peek at anthonyjoshua's preparations for his latest world title defence. he fights andy ruinunior at madison square garden in new york on saturday night, but he's made miami his home in the run up. the heavyweight champion met up with a familiar face. rory mcilroy — who also lives in florida. looks like he's got himself a nice pad to relax in. 0n the beach. i would absolutely love to be there. fair play. a bit of sunshine and palm trees this time of sunshine and palm trees this time of year, fantastic. that's all from sportsday. coming up in a moment, the papers.