it has been a drier day for most of us it has been a drier day for most of us today that things are said to change. this is coming our way from the atlantic, two bands of cloud and rain, the first arriving in western areas tonight. ahead of that patchy rain to move away from eastern scotla nd rain to move away from eastern scotland with sharp showers towards the east of england. there is the main rain band of northern ireland coming into western scotland. temperatures could dip to three or 4 degrees. tomorrow they spend of rain clears away from northern ireland and patchy rain heads eastwards across scotland. there could be heavy rain across the hills of wales. we get some sunshine, quite a few showers in western scotland, a few showers in western scotland, a few for northern ireland, temperatures 11 degrees. ahead of the rain in the south—east, 15 degrees. that rain is out of the way

but the next one comes in but we start dry weather sunshine through the midlands. the rain moves eastwards. sunshine and showers returning to scotland and northern ireland. a windy day on saturday we re ireland. a windy day on saturday were strong to gale force wind. for a while whence could be costing around 60 mph. it should be a bit warmer in east anglia. we get the rain by the end of the day which sweeps away on that weather front but the main driving force of the weather is still there, but deeper area of low pressure towards the north—west of the uk. here we will have the strongest of the winds on sunday. sunshine elsewhere, scherer is more likely across southern and western parts of england and into wales. not as windy but the air is cold there on sunday with house of 12 to 14. that's all from the bbc news at six — so it's goodbye from me — and on bbc one we nowjoin the bbc‘s

news teams where you are.

hello and welcome to sportsday. i'm katherine downes. here's what is coming up on a busy programme. it's a europa league evening — arsenal and rangers are already in action. we'll bring you right up to date. step up and take action — raheem sterling calls for leadership in tackling racial abuse online, as a survey finds nearly half the players in the premier league have been targeted. and 11 players missing, but the game will go on — covid—hit wasps scramble to take on exeter in this weekend's premiership final.

thanks forjoining us. all that and more to come. but we start with another huge night of european football with five british clubs in europa league action. arsenal already under way against rapid vienna in austria. and there is a different atmosphere in the ground tonight — that's because there are 3,000 home fans in the stadium as arsenal become the first english club to play in front of crowds in europe. still goalless in the austrian capital, although david luiz has got close for arsenal in the first half. we will keep you updated if there is a change in the square line. well, this man, mesut ozil, isn't in action for arsenal. he's been left out of their europa league and premier league squads and has not played for the team since march the 7th. it means he can only feature for arsenal's under 23s until his deal expires next summer. well, the man who's excluded him — manager mikel arteta —

has said, "my conscience is very calm because i have been really fair." he added that he feels like he has failed with the midfielder and has not been able to get the best out of him for the team. here's what arsenal's former number 10 jack wilshere makes of the situation. all i can do is comment on mesut ozil as a footballer and he is one of the best players i have played with. it must be so frustrating for him. whata with. it must be so frustrating for him. what a great player and, yes, it isa him. what a great player and, yes, it is a tough time for him, but i am sure if it is not arsenal, he has still got a lot to give as well. elsewhere in the europa league, there's another game underway in belgium as steven gerrard's rangers visit standard liege. and there are home fans in the stands there, too. 3,750 of them. it's rangers‘ first game of the season in front of a crowd. they have got off to a great start. captain james at avenue

they have got off to a great start. captainjames at avenue it gave them a 1—0 leeds from the penalty spot. —— tavernier. there are lots of big ties to look forward to later, too. the pick of them involve the team rangers beat on saturday, celtic. neil lennon's side take on zlatan ibrahimovic and co as ac milan visit glasgow. gareth bale could make his first start since rejoining tottenham. they face lask of austria and brendan rodgers‘ leicester are also at home against ukrainian side zorya luhansk. looking ahead to all of those is patrick gearey. kings of the continent don't tend to meet on thursday. celtic and ac milan were once champions. but recent yea rs milan were once champions. but recent years have not been kind to the italians. but you can still find a style in milan. i am zlatan ibrahimovic and i just warming a style in milan. i am zlatan ibrahimovic and ijust warming up. he may be 39, but he has scored five in three matches this season and would have stared hungrily at some

of celtic‘s defending. after that body blow and with some of the squad still recovering from coronavirus, new learning has to lift his players to lift the team at top of serie a. we are not smoothing everything over as if everything is ok, we'rejust going to work away and you have to accept the criticism when it comes. i get that, we have been here before. we are just looking to react as positively as we can and get a run of games where we play well. these days, football clubs like to carefully choreograph the arrival of new signings, especially if they are gareth bale. spurs did their promotional video. when they were safely 3—0 up, they sent him on as a sub against west ham. they drew 3—3. boss underlines that although they had brought bale back, they hadn't

turned the clock back. with such a gap of time, we are speaking about seven years, we are not speaking about seven months. seven years, the players, they change. it is not about changing for better or for worse, it isjust change. from a big name in to a less familiar one, as of last summer... the last time they played in the equivalent of this competition was 20 years ago and they were knocked out in the first round. at least in the group stage, this evening will definitely be better than that. patrick gearey, bbc news. so you're up to date with the action this evening — lets take a look at some of the other football headlines. wales women are leading the faroe islands 4—0 in their latest qualifier for the european championships next year. they lost to norway last

month so a win here would keep their hopes alive. glasgow city will host ireland's peamount united in the first qualifying round of the women's champions league. the single—leg match is on november the 3rd or 4th. and fifa's boss gianni infantino says he's not interested in a proposed european super league. fifa were said to support plans for a 18—team tournament worth £4.6 billion. liverpool and manchester united were among five premier league clubs set to be included. now to some shocking statistics which show 43% of premier league footballers have experienced targeted racist abuse. raheem sterling, wilfred zaha and adebayo akinfenwa were three of the 44 players whose social media accounts were analysed in the study

by the professional footballers association over the final six weeks of the last premier league season. they received half of the overall abuse. well sterling has called for football authorities and social media platforms to "step up, show real leadership and take proper action in tackling online abuse". earlier i caught up with the pfa's jason lee. what we are asking is that social media companies... whatever they are using clearly isn't picking up what we know is racist behaviour in terms of the emojis, you know, the monkeys, the bananas, as soon as you attach that to somebody‘s social media, you know what you are doing. the artificial intelligence isn't picking it up. it isn't an excuse. your study shows a few blind spots.

raheem sterling is one so far to say that the social media companies don't want to do anything about it, they don't want to be involved in cutting back on social media abuse. do you think that is right? do you think he has got a point, that it is more to do with what the companies wa nt to more to do with what the companies want to do? i wouldn't go against what he is saying if that is how he feels. at the end of the day, there are high profile people, whether that be footballers, celebrities in a tv, film, whatever, if you can't get it right on their platforms and if you can't look after them and make sure that you are able to control the negative narrative that is coming into their platforms, then what chance has, you know, the average person who hasn't got that power, so average person who hasn't got that power, so to speak? have you got time to raise it yourself with them? ifi time to raise it yourself with them? if i was to raise it on behalf of anybody else, they wouldn't take it

seriously. there's too much onus on the individual to make contact with the individual to make contact with the social media companies. i don't agree with that. lewis hamilton has said he always felt like an outsider when he was growing up in the uk. the six—time formula 0ne world champion has been speaking to three teenagers as part of a series for newsround about being a young black person in this country. here's what he had to say. i hope you are well. i heard that you guys have written a manifesto. 0ne you guys have written a manifesto. one of my points in the manifesto was to have a more minority ethnicities in higher leadership roles. in my team, there are only 2000 people and we have a very small percentage of minorities currently. but i am trying to encourage change from within. i work in an industry thatis from within. i work in an industry that is predominantly white. we were

a lwa ys that is predominantly white. we were always the first and only black family on the scene. i thought that me being there representing for us would create a new pathway for getting to the sport, but there is still so much still, so many obstacles, so many barriers.|j still so much still, so many obstacles, so many barriers. i feel there is a large stereotype that a young black boy is seen like a criminal ora young black boy is seen like a criminal or a threat. when i was younger, i was pulled over multiple timesjust walking into younger, i was pulled over multiple times just walking into town. younger, i was pulled over multiple timesjust walking into town. or walking through a straw and someone assuming that i am doing something because i am assuming that i am doing something because i am someone assuming that i am doing something because i am someone of colour or i was wearing a hoodie at the time. —— store. i want to try and introduce black lives and that history into the curriculum. when i was at school, it was all about world war i. school, it was all about world war i, and generally white history, even worse for me was that they never acknowledged in those history

lessons that they were actually black people involved in those wars and those times. i think education is the most important thing. you have set this manifesto up, and how you going to follow through with that? what are the next stage stages for you? if it reaches one person and then they can see that they can relate to that, i want to see this and they give it to another person. racism in itself is a pandemic that has been going on for a long time. i've got a responsibility to help shift this to make sure you guys have a better future. time for a quick roundup of the day's other sports stories... british cyclist tayo gaygan hart is just 15 seconds off the lead at the giro d'italia after finishing second on stage 18. he was pipped to the line by the australian jai hindley. gaygan hart is up to third in the standings. dan martin is up to second

at the vuelta a espana after winning stage 3. the irishman battling up the final climb ahead of race leader primoz roglitch and the inoes grenadiers richard carapaz. britain's cameron norrie was beaten by world number 19 milos raonic in the second round of the european open in antwerp. a second set tie—break handed raonic the win. brandon lowe hit two home runs as the tampa bay rays beat the los angeles dodgers 6—4 to win game two of baseball's world series. it's now 1—all going into game three which is in the early hours of saturday morning. now, it's been a chaotic week for wasps as they build up to rugby union's premiership final against exeter on saturday. the wasps squad has been hit by a spate of positive covid tests, and, at one point this week, it was unclear whether they'd even be able to play for the title, with bristol bears set to take their place. wasps are free to play, but they have several players missing due to positive tests, four of whom would have been vital to their matchday squad. chrisjones is our rugby union correspondent and joins me now.