‘ground in end of the week to higher ground in scotla nd end of the week to higher ground in scotland where temperatures will struggle to climb above freezing, and yes, there will be some snow. for the next few hours, the coolest weather will be across east anglia and south—east england with temperatures close to freezing but the weather front keeps the cloud and temperatures above freezing here, but it is going to be the story that makes the change to the weather. as the front sinks south and east it allows this colder air to arrive from the arctic and the wind to strengthen as well. so any early—morning wind to strengthen as well. so any ea rly—morning brightness quickly clouds over as the front pushes into england and across south wales, and behind it, sunny spells, a scattering of sharp showers driven by the cold wind and temperatures in scotla nd by the cold wind and temperatures in scotland really struggling through wednesday afternoon, as you can see. temperatures generally down across the country. thursday unfortunately isa the country. thursday unfortunately is a real mess. we will see showers of rain, sleet and snow, primarily snow to higher ground in scotland but further south we have a weather front that will bring some rain and

some of it quite persistent as well, accompanied by gail forced wins, moving steadily north and east as it bumps into colder air we will see a winter flavour of rain, sleet and snow in the higher ground as well. i said it was a mix and you need to keep watching the weather forecast as it will get quite interesting over the next few days, but a cold feel on thursday and if you haven't already got the message, december has arrived with a vengeance. cold over the next few days and unsettled with a wintry mix in the showers. debenhams is said to close its doors for good, putting 12,000 jobs at risk. 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 gavin ramjaun. 0n today's programme — newcastle's trip to aston villa on friday is off. it's the first top flight match to fall victim to coronavirus since the premier league resumed. details on the way. big boots to fill for whoever steps in for lewis hamilton. the f1 champion misses this weekend's race following a positive covid test. and var in the spotlight again — questions over how the technology is used following aston villa's defeat to west ham. also coming up in the programme — qualification for the champions league knockout stages at stake for liverpool tonight. can their injury hit squad get past ajax at anfield?

hello, and welcome to sportsday. i'm gavin ramjaun. first to the news coming into us this afternoon that newcastle's match away to aston villa has been postponed due to a coronavirus outbreak in newcastle's squad. it's the first in the premier league to fall victim since the summer's project restart, when the top flight resumed after an enforced break. 0ur sports correspondent andy swiss is here with more on this. how did the league arrive at their decision to we already knew that newcastle had an outbreak of covid with their training centre but today announced but there was a significant increase in the number of cases with several players now self oscillating at home after returning positive results in recent days and the training centre has been temporarily close to contain the spread of the virus. they say because the first team are currently unable to train as a group, they asked the premier league whether they could postpone the game against aston villa on friday and

the league said yes. that game will 110w the league said yes. that game will now be rescheduled. aston villa for their part so they fully support the decision and wish you a speedy recovery to everyone affected but this clearly will be frustrating to eve ryo ne this clearly will be frustrating to everyone concerned. the first time the premier league had to postpone a match this season because of covid and they will be hoping sincerely it's the last. any potential risk to other games on the calendar? newcastle's next game is to west brom on the 12th of december and then do to face leeds four days later. they say the players and staff will be tested again this week and then a meeting between the league, the club and public health england to assess the results we should get a better sense later this week if the outbreak is under control. thank you very much, andy. it was billed as the technology to revolutionise the game,

but the use of the video assistant referee in the premier league is a continuing source of frustration for clubs and supporters. another marginal call in last night's premier league tie denied aston villa a potential point against west ham. the hammers won 2—1 as the debate around the use of var rumbles on. joe lynskey has more. so much in football has changed a few but with some girls go in now, they don't feel the same. it goes in and the equaliser is scored! watkins had equalised for aston villa but the celebration was on hold. for two and a half minutes, the goal went to var. with any part of him offside? that looks offside to me. his elbow was offside. perhaps by a centimetre it was disallowed. this was in stoppage time and aston villa won the match it one. your are -- your

arm is only there because you were getting fell but surely it is a penalty. within the laws of the game better than me. but it did not make sense to aston villa's star player. saying after the game that var is rooted the game. 0fficials ruled it out because of the upper armfuls of anything beyond a t—shirt sleeve can be used. this happened last week and he was forward with the build—up which means his goal was disallowed. bbc asked readers that most want and agree part of the body and some asked for a margin of error like an umpire call in cricket while others wa nted umpire call in cricket while others wanted scrap. the sad part for me is where using a system that is flawed and asa where using a system that is flawed and as a result, it is creating flawed decisions. but forget the lines and just rely on what we are seeing as individuals. with this

technology until we are in the same position as goal line technology. even in 2020, the football argument is timeless. how do you get things right when it happened so fast? the eternal question there. liverpool and manchester city are both in champions league action this evening. city are away at porto, but are through to the knockout stages, having won all their european group games so far. jurgen klopp's liverpool can join them in the last 16 if they avoid defeat to ajax at anfield. former liverpool defender stephen warnock is there for radio 5live tonight. hejoins me now. just before we look ahead to the game at anfield, what your thoughts on var and how it's being used so far this season? is there still room for improvement with it? i'm nota i'm not a huge fan at the moment. it has its benefits at times but look at the head from pepe against leeds

and look at the incident and say it was a good use of var. but the biggest problem is offside. you look at the margins in the the right thing and for me i spoke this morning on the radio about the about the way the doctor doing it. which isa the way the doctor doing it. which is a five cm line for each team so tense and metres. this allows for a little bit of leeway to the attacking team and i think this is a brilliant option to look for. the other one put forward to myself and to different people is go for the most attackers leaning into the ball so most attackers leaning into the ball so they are always on the front foot going forward. go from the feet. it is predominantly the thing that scores the most goals, the part of the body that scores most goals. so why are we looking at the tip of the arm and the furthest part of the body forward. interesting thoughts.

to the match this evening for liverpool, klopp has been vocal about the issues with scheduling of games and the impact on the squad. do you see ajax causing any problems? yes. ajax is high in form and they come in here with confidence having w011 away come in here with confidence having won away at the champions league. this is a tough night for liverpool with the injuries they are carrying so with the injuries they are carrying soa with the injuries they are carrying so a tough not for them. i don't expectjurgen klopp to feel too many inexperienced players tonight because he knows the quality that ajax bring to anfield tonight. where do you think klopp's head is at right now? is preserving his squad top of his priorities? i think ideally he needs to get a result of whether it be a point or three points and get them progressed through the group and guarantee at least second spot. anything else, then they are away at denmark and

that's a bonus. he wants to make sure of that. in the ideal scenario, get the game done and dusted by the 60th or 70th minute and then you make changes. the ideal world are not happening this year, are they? thank you very much indeed, stephen from anfield. you can keep up with commentary from that match on radio 5live and the bbc sport website. kick—off is at 8pm. it's a big night for the home nations as they look to join hosts england in next summer's women's euros. in group e, a defeat for scotland at home to finland could end their hopes of qualifying. while wales take on belarus and northern ireland welcome the faroe islands to belfast in group c, with just one qualifying place still up for grabs. 0ur reporter stephen watson is in belfast. the northern ireland women had never qualify for a majorfinal the northern ireland women had never qualify for a major final but they can take one step closer tonight. i

am joined by the former northern ireland international gail and how confident are you that northern ireland can get the win that they need tonight to make the playoffs?” think after friday night's character showing and the resilience from the girls to come back each time there was a setback, i'm fully confident they can get the job done tonight. yes, 3—2 four days ago with less trauma hoping for this evening.” don't know if my heart can take it. but it was exciting. they were in the front foot the whole game and i expect that again tonight. northern ireland have never been in this position before so how is this turnaround happening?” position before so how is this turnaround happening? i think from the foundations that have been laid previously from the former manager. the better pathways to have structures in place to have youngsters playing football in leeds and also the performance academy is also key as well. you play with some senior players in the northern ireland panel. will this mean in

particular to them if they can edge ever closer to the european championships? just after the match i spoke to wanda she said it is the highlight of her career. she plays professionally now and that shows the magnitude of the game tonight. they still have work to do obviously if they can win tonight but to get to that playoff would be a huge achievement for northern ireland football. the key is it's in their hands. even the last game, it's in their hands. if they went to games they get a chance to be in the playoff and you never know what can happen ina playoff and you never know what can happen in a play also take your opportunity, it's all a play for tonight. thank you very much indeed. northern ireland beat the faroe islands 6—0 earlier in the campaign. kick—off is at 7pm tonight in belfast and you can watch the game live on bbc iplayer. stephen watson there. wales against belarus is on bbc two wales from 7pm, and scotland against finland is on bbc alba from 7:20pm. let's take a look at some

of the day's other sports news now. the chief executive of celtic has given back into neil lennon. he's urged fans to stick by the club. supporters of call for women to be sacked after crashing out of the lea k sacked after crashing out of the leak up and wejust sacked after crashing out of the leak up and we just one sacked after crashing out of the leak up and wejust one win in the last five games. —— supporters have called for neil lennon to be sacked. billy burns and james lowe have been ruled out of ireland's autumn nations cup third place play—off with scotland this weekend. fly half burns has failed to recover from a groin problem suffered in sunday's win over georgia, while winger lowe will be absent due to a similar issue. captainjohnny sexton and centre robbie henshaw could return. argentina's pablo matera has been stripped of the captaincy and suspended along with two team mates for "discriminatory and xenophobic" comments in historical social media posts. they were made between 2011—2013. the argentine rugby union say it "strongly repudiates" the comments. england's cricketers are chasing a daunting 192 to complete a perfect 3—0 t20 series victory against south africa in cape town. rassie van der dussen top scored

for the hosts with 7a not out. england can return to the top of the t20 world rankings with victory today. lewis hamilton hasn't missed a formula 1 race since making his debut on the track back in 2007, but the f1 champion will be missing from the start line for this weekend's sakhir grand prix after testing positive for coronavirus. it's the penultimate race of the season in bahrain and, with a record—equalling seventh world title already secured, hamilton may not be given the all—clear before this year's campaign comes to a close. 0ur f1 correspondentjenny gow told me who could step in. we know he took three tests and they all came back negative but it was monday morning he began showing some mild symptoms. had another test and that was the one that came back as positive for coronavirus. so it