easing away from scotland, but we have some wet weather across wales and south—west england and that is going to gradually drift steadily east through the night. now we have this real north—south divide at the moment. temperatures falling away just below freezing in rural areas in scotland, but look at this, 11, 12 degrees perhaps across southern england but it's a drab, dreary, drizzly start to tuesday, and it may well stay like that for much of the day with more more i have rain in the south—west. by contrast, northern england, northern ireland, scotland, lovely spells of sunshine, a few scatters showers but cooler with it, five to seven degrees, the overall high. more rain to come across central and southern parts of england, with this area of low pressure. it's the dividing line between this moist air coming up from the south but that u nfortu nately mea ns from the south but that unfortunately means some of that rain once again could be heavy and it may lead to localised flooding in the south—west. but we have the clearer sky, the sunshine in

scotland, northern england and northern ireland once again, but a key northerly breeze making it feel cool here, four, five degrees for some as a daytime maximum. now, that low drifts away and high pressure is set to build for christmas eve, hence the reason we could see clearer skies for a time, that will allow those temperatures to fall away, but it does mean christmas eve and christmas day is looking a little more promising, mother festive, bright and crisp, drier and quieter than we have seen of late, make the most of it. more rain to come, boxing day. 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'mjane dougall. coming up on a busy programme... covid causes chaos in elite sport

as festive fixtures are threatened covid could cause chaos in elite sport as festive fixtures are threatened by the new varient of the virus. from dancing to dementia, the family of nobby stiles, 1966 world cup winner, who died earlier this we are, say they have been told his illness was caused by heading footballs. and tottenham women have lost their big named player. alex morgan will leave the club in the new year to go back to the states. also coming up in the programme... under pressure... with arsenal now 15th in the league, we'll look at what the future holds for manager mikel arteta. and marcus rashford is recognised with a special award at the bbc sports personality of the year following his campaign to help feed the uk's poorest families.

hello and welcome to sportsday. elite sport could be significantly disrupted over the festive period because of covid, with a number of high—profile sporting fixtures already postponed this weekend. games were called off in the efl, the wsl, as well as several matches in rugby's european champions cup. looking ahead, both millwall and ipswich's next two championship fixtures have been postponed after an outbreak of covid in the squads. this season's efl cup final has been re—scheduled from february to april the 25th in the hope that fans will then be allowed in at wembley. and the masters snooker will take place without fans next month now, despite originally planning on having a crowd at

alexandra palace in london. it's all after a new tier 4 was imposed on the capital and parts of the south east due to the new varient of covid. experts say the fast spreading nature of the variant means that following the rules of the bio bubble are more crucial now than ever. if a bubble is well maintained and well performed, that insulates the players and all the staff from any contagion that is going around in the community. that is the whole idea of a bubble, to provide that level of protection. that will still work, even with a more transmissible variant, like this new one. so, it really doesn't change it. jim neilly area where it becomes a problem is if you maybe have players that don't follow the bubble regulations quite as well, then, there is a greater risk of transmission and a greater

risk of transmission and a greater risk of transmission and a greater risk of the bubble breaking down. but again, if everybody is following the guidance for the bubble, it should work, and the new variant should work, and the new variant should not change that. so, there have been reports that the premier league have been warned that this new variant could actually wipe out sport in the foreseeable future, do you think that that is true?|j sport in the foreseeable future, do you think that that is true? i think thatis you think that that is true? i think that is extremely premature to say, andi that is extremely premature to say, and i think fairly unlikely, because if you look at what has happened with this coronavirus since we first saw it, we've had multiple new variants emerge, this happens all the time, even though this is something that we're hearing about something that we're hearing about so much right now, we've had a lot of new variants. we've even had one variant, 06146, months ago, and that increased transmissibility earlier on in the pandemic. so, it doesn't

change what works to stop the spread of the virus. masks still work, social distancing still works, avoiding crowded indoor spaces still works. all of this works, and hopefully the vaccines will still work. so, no, idon‘t think hopefully the vaccines will still work. so, no, i don't think that this is a game changer. as we mentioned earlier, millwall and ipswich's next two games are off because of outbreaks of the virus. it's sparked concern amongst other efl clubs, including charlton athletic, who, just weeks ago, opened their stadium to fans. there is so much work gone into preparing the stadium. you know, we used three stands, so, we wanted to demonstrate to the council, to the efl, that we could go higher levels quicker, because you know, football is about fans. we wanted more fans here as quick as we could get them here. so we feel, like everybody, look, we know we are not the only people, football fans, restaurants,

bars, everybody is planning for a christmas and it has been taken away from us. we can't feel sorry for ourselves, we have just got to get on and wait for the next instructions. and we have just heard that ipswich's next two games have also been postponed because of outbreaks of the virus, are you looking at that and thinking, this could be very difficult, to make sure that sport continues? yes, of course. it is just a sure that sport continues? yes, of course. it isjust a common sure that sport continues? yes, of course. it is just a common sense thing, isn't it? the temperatures we re thing, isn't it? the temperatures were already condensed, but every time there is a game called off because of the virus, or any reason, it just condenses the because of the virus, or any reason, itjust condenses the whole season. so, yes, it has got to be a concern. you just worry, what are the efl going to do regarding all of the temperatures? a game on a tuesday on a saturday is difficult for the players, lee bowyer says, so it is a challenge. but there are a lot of challenges going on out there at the

moment. and football won't be the only sport to potentially be affected by the new strain this winter. rugby has also had to work hard to allow games to go ahead with secure bubbles being brought in a number of clubs. the captain of exeter chiefs women, linde van der velden admits the lack of testing means contracting the virus remains a major concern. i think ithink in i think in our league, it has happened already before, with a few other teens, and happened already before, with a few otherteens, andl happened already before, with a few otherteens, and i think happened already before, with a few other teens, and i think the difficult thing with us is that because we don't get tested, when someone has symptoms, most of the time you have already been in contact with girls in the squad. so, at the end of the day we need to do oui’ at the end of the day we need to do our best, to not catch it and it starts with that and i think everyone in our team is really following the rules as they are, and we just try to make sure to keep our bubble as small as possible. and

everyone in the bubble is really focused on making sure that everyone stays safe, and we can pursue the by stays safe, and we can pursue the rugby as best as we can and as long as we can. as cricket prepares for another busy winter, following a host of games at the likes of old trafford in recent months. next up for england's players is a tour of sri lanka. the first of two tests starts on january the 14th. however, the new strain of this virus has led to a number of countries across europe banning entry from the uk. so could that impact this tour? here's what former england player tymal mills makes of the situation. i think it should be ok. elite sport has obviously been worked around with exemptions, i have seen the england team will undergo multiple rounds of covid testing before they fly, rounds of covid testing before they fly, and they will then be on a chartered flight, not with any other members of the public. they will then undergo a period of isolation in sri lanka where they will have

more tests as well. i am sure the sri lankan government will be more than satisfied with the england team and staff's covid situation by the time they arrive. but, yes, fingers crossed, it does not get worse between now and then. you have been in bio bubble is, how strict is it? yeah, it's tough. obviously they're set up and run by external companies, the nhs and other medical influences are involved. there is no leeway, as such. it is very strict. but everybody understands that at the moment it is the only way that professional sport is able to go ahead. so, we definitely can't complain in this situation. and there are more details of all the sports affected by this new variant of covid on our bbc sport website. the family of the 1966 world cup winner nobby stiles, who died earlier this year, say they have been told his dementia was caused by heading footballs.

a leading expert, dr willie stewart, carried out research into the former footballer‘s brain. natalie pirks reports. he was the world cup winner whose dancing stole the nation's hearts. but as dementia cruelly took hold in later life, nobby stiles' family became convinced that heading footballs was to blame. this weekend, they found out their suspicions were right. last year, neuropathologist dr willie stewart published a landmark study, concluding that footballers are more than three times more likely to develop dementia. he studied noddy‘s brain and found it to be at an advanced stage of chronic traumatic and set off the peak, cte, for short. in circumstances where there has been head impacts, with a football, there are not many head injuries in football but there is an awful lot of heading the ball. so,

what is chronic traumatic and step for pudsey —— and south. the brain appears shrunken under a microscope, but what sets it apart is the build—up ofan but what sets it apart is the build—up of an abnormal protein, seen here stained brown. a coroner report in 2002 said west brom'sjeff astle died as a result of heading a football, the first footballer‘s death of its kind in the uk. in 2014, his brain was also confirmed to have cte. john has no doubt heading the ball because his father's dementia. absolutely none. no doubt whatsoever. there needs to bea no doubt whatsoever. there needs to be a massive amount of help for all of these players and their families, who are left to fight this. i can only describe it as a horrific illness. it is a horrific illness, to watch somebody disappear so brutally in front of you. donating

nobby‘s brain was a difficult decision, but ultimately the stiles family knew this was bigger than them. my dad suffered a lot, and we talked about it, and my man basically said, if it can stop one more player suffering the way your dad did, then we will do it. this could well be just the tip of the iceberg. natalie pirks, bbc news. well, one way of testing for damage to players in the future could potentially come from a sample of their saliva. it's a method being investigated by doctors, one of whom is teena shetty, the neurologist for the new york mets baseball team and an expert in head trauma research. the amazing thing is that we can actually collect these in the saliva, so it is an incredibly accessible human bio fluid and it has already shown to be quite an interesting biomarker, of both diagnostic and prognostic capabilities. we are trying to see

how we can collect the biomarkers and then use them along with critical variables to understand if someone has had a concussion and how long it takes them to recover and who it is that may be at risk of not recovering. it would be basically a point of care type of tool that could be used on the field. in contrast, the biomarkers that we have used in the past and relied on have used in the past and relied on have been things like imaging and blood, which are much more challenging and technically difficult to obtain. let's take a look at some of the other sports news stories making the headlines. tonight's evening session at the world darts championship is underway at alexandra palace. the first match sees england's ryan joyce up against poland's krzysztof ratajski. and krzysztof ratajski has taken the first two sets. lee westwood has been named the european tour's golfer of the year. it's the fourth time he's won the award and comes just a week

after westwood became the oldest winner of the race to dubai title. scottish premiership side livington have appointed david martindale as manager. he won all four of his matches since taking interim charge, following the resignation of gary holt. elsewhere, john hughes has been appointed manager of ross county. there are two matches in the premier league this evening. in the early game, wolves are at burnley, burnley are currently leading 2—0 after 57 minutes. later, chelsea take on west ham at stamford bridge. chelsea could go fifth with a win, but a loss would mean three league defeats in a row for the first time since 2015. meanwhile, west ham have won three games on the bounce away from home. you can follow it on 5 live, kick—off is at eight. staying with football, and it's been an eventful 12 months in the job for this man, arsenal manager mikel arteta.