continue for several more days. emergency crews are battling to contain the two largest blazes amid warnings that winds are expected to intensify. rachel reeves has become the most senior official from the uk to visit china for 7 years. the chancellor has announced trade agreements with beijing worth £600 million to the uk over the next five years. ukraine says it has captured two north korean soldiers who'd been fighting alongside russian forces in the kursk region. ukraine released a video claiming to show the two wounded men but did not provide evidence that they were north korean. the us supreme court appears poised to uphold a law that bans tiktok in the us over national security concerns unless its china—based parent company sells the platform.

now on bbc news, it's sportsday. hello and welcome to sportsday. iam mark i am mark edwards. he is what is coming up on our show. the magic of the fa cup not appearing at anfield as liverpool thrash 4th tier accrington stanley. celtic strolling to the scottish premiership title. they're 18 points clear now at the top with a win at a freezing cold ross county. english clubs hammered in the champions cup as both sale and exeter are thrashed by at least a0 points. also coming up on sportsday... can england's women end a decade—long wait for the ashes? we'll be down under ahead of the first one day international starting this evening. and as the nfl playoffs get underway, who can dethrone the kansas city chiefs and win the super bowl? efe obada is confident in his washington commanders.

my prediction is definitely going to be biased. we are going to win the super bowl lix. it is no question. hello and thanks for joining us on sportsday. we're going to start with football. it's a full fixture list in the fa cup third round, and we've had our first shock result of the weekend. more on that story injust a moment. we're going to turn our attentions to the earlier kick off where there was no fairytale upset for 4th—tier accrington stanley easily beaten by liverpool at anfield asjoe linskey reports. a surge around fa cup tie against either premier league leaders for african tin stanley, the chance to show who

they are. is the team from league 2 at 86 places below liverpool. at anfield, they held on for 29 minutes. then they found the gap. and liverpool's a left wind was rio, a 16—year—old player, the club are�*s youngest fa cup starter, although his shot was shut down, it set the tone for his team mates. 2—0 at half—time was where the magic ended. donald love�*s head that was the closest that stanley got. the club is his big chance. he scored twice here this season and did so again. as 3-0, it this season and did so again. as 3—0, it was simple but this was a chance to milk it. at accrington, it is their connection to liverpool but this match showed how these clouds are way apart. ——

clouds... liverpool's summer signing federico chiesa has struggled for fitness and playing time sincejoining from juventus in the summer, but head coach arne slot is hopeful this is the start of him being regularly available for the club. he is getting fitter and fitter. today a was good first step. although, we cannot get carried away because i liked the duty of that we played. it is a good first step for him and a good next step in what we want to see from him. —— i liked the two teams that we played. so as we mentioned at the top of the show. the shock of the third round so far came in west london as premier league brentford were knocked out of the fa cup by championship strugglers plymouth argyle. morgan whittaker scored 20 goals last season but hasn't but hasn't had the same impact so far this campaign. but this beauty booked their place in the fourth round. it comes little under two weeks after they sacked former england striker

wayne rooney as manager. league two side salford city have travelled across town to play manchester city at the etihad but it's been a chastening experience for them salford's ownership model features several famous former united faces and the club are third in the table having won their last six games. city have won their last two games after a recent dismal run of form, and goals from jeremy doku and divine mubama on his debut put city 2—0 up after 20 minutes. there was still time for another before the break. this time nico o'reilly getting his name on the scoresheet for the first time in a city shirt. 3—0 at half—time, the goals have since rained down. 4 more followed including a hat—trick forjames mcatee they lead it — zero with around ten minutes on the clock. —— they lead 8—0.

here are some of the other results today. apart from brentford, it's been a relatively straight forward day for sides in the premier league. wins for wolves, leicester, bournemouth, chelsea, brighton and nottingham forest. leeds hosting league 2's harrogate currently i—o to leeds with minutes to go and coventry 1— 0 with sheffield wednesday. see highlights from today's games over on the bbc sport website right now. the fourth round of the women's fa cup is also underway, but brighton's tie with durham was postponed due to a frozen pitch, despite kick off being moved back an hour and a half in an attempt to help the fixture take place. that's one of five women's fa cup postponements this weekend. the day's other game has gone ahead, between manchester united and west brom. and a thumping 7—0 victory for the defending champions.

there's a host of fixtures to come tomorrow, including fulham against london city lionesses, live on the bbc sport website from midday. a late burst of goals saw celtic stretch their lead at the top of the scottish premiership to a whopping 18 points, after they beat ross county 4—1 in dingwall. brendan rodgers praised his side's performance, which came in below freezing temperatures, as dan ogunshakin now reports. as ross county and celtic prepared to meet, the thermometer read a frosty —9. the only thing, that was it home site against a champion who played ten, lost ten. perhaps due to the freezing temperatures, it took celtic a whilst you come to the boil but it is a player came with an appropriately cool finish to win with a heart. the goal we don't i against the run of play, ross county was throwing a lifeline, and ice cold finish. celtic had cold in front of god until he made a telling contribution. with lead the stores, the visit had applied some heat which would you take to climax. a pendency awarded in standard staffs ——

awarded in standard staffs —— awarded in standard staffs —— awarded in stoppage time. this “ app awarded in stoppage time. this —— app and a stoppage time. there was even time for a fourth. in a crowded box, luke had the coolest of heads as celtic marked, the title goes on. two other games to tell you about from the scottish premiership today — hibernian recorded their fifth win in seven games, beating motherwell 3—1 to move into the top six. meanwhile, st mirren missed a stoppage time penalty against dundee united, who won 1—0 to move third in the table, thanks to an outrageous overhead kick from lewis moult. david moyes�* return to everton has been confirmed. the scotsman has signed a two—year deal to take charge of the club for a second time. moyes lead everton for more than 500 games between 2002 and 2013, guiding the club to four european campaigns and the 2009 fa cup final before taking over from alex ferguson at manchester united. his immediate task will

be to keep the club in the premier league — they are 16th and just a point seperates them from ipswich and wolves below them. this my personal feeling this my personalfeeling is that which have been dice to the end of the season but moyes is the perfect option. when you look around, who else is going to keep us up this season and cares about everton? there is literally no one else. baines and seamus did a good job but they do not have the experience for a relegation battle but he did and did it for west ham. he is the right guy for now and for the rest of the season. the rest thing is... at the moment, people are talking about is that we missed out on things like that but there are two jobs really. there is a first one which is for the rest of the season and then once we move from randy moore, it is a different manager to kick us

a give us better for it but us to new levels.— a give us better for it but us to new levels. before he has even started, _ to new levels. before he has even started, people - to new levels. before he has even started, people are - even started, people are wondering get out of here but when you do, we would love a brand—new shiny thing? hat brand-new shiny thing? not necessarily _ brand-new shiny thing? not necessarily that. _ brand—new shiny thing? iirrt necessarily that. moyes loves everything. he was there for ii everything. he was there for 11 years and he did a lot of good things for us. he cold us to people's club in the first place. not necessarily to bring him energy fix it and bin him off. forthe him energy fix it and bin him off. for the long term and the aspirations of the new owners and the fronts who have been let down for such a long time, we do need something a bit better. we should be pushing the top six with the money that we have had over the years and obviously, the club has been poorly run but that is a hope moving forward. its been a very disappointing and chastening day so far for english sides

in rugby union's champions cup as both sale and exeter were humiliated in their respectives matches. sale nilled in south africa while shipping 6 tries and exeter absolutely smashed by bordeaux—begles at sandy park. ben croucher rounds up the action for us. south africa can off the been a fair tower habitat for sharks but for sales, it was a toothless display d winter storms, sales were soon scarred by jamie, storms, sales were soon scarred byjamie, marking his 50th game at the opening try. he found space behind the sale defence, you'd be far too easy. —— south africa can be a habitat for sharks. not helped as robert became one of two bend in the second half, not on one she

south off of ceremony or sympathy. hugo powered in the storm, a six try to leapfrog the shells into the qualification spot, for sales final game are a must. that is not likely to be enough for premiership strugglers exeter, three games and three defeats, despite a rapid start at sandy park. it went rapidly downhill from there. by half—time, last season's quarterfinal has racked up five tries of their own. the second was not long after the restart, by the de half—time, yet his fourth try. the champions cup is not a happy hunting ground for two english sides at least. premiership champions northampton saints booked their spot in the last 16 — despite losing

at stade francais. two henry pollock tries saw them race into a 2i—nil lead but the french outfit rallied with 7 of their own. 45—35 it finished. the bonus point for the saints is enough to make the knockouts with a game spare. the dismal day for the english sides continued as saracens' unbeaten run was ended by munster 17—12. if castres lose at home to bulls later without a bonus point, both munster and sarries willjoin northampton in the knockouts. leicester host ulster in at 8pm. in the challenge cup cardiff were edged out by perpignan 23—20 but edinburgh with a good in brittany against top 14 side vannes. later this evening, england's women will bid to regain a trophy that has alluded them for a decade — the women's ashes. the last series in 2023 was drawn, leading to australia retaining the trophy. it all begins tonight with the start of a three—match one day series in sydney.

here's our reporter henry moeran. here in sydney, the weather is a lot better than it was for the warm up match a couple of days ago. we almost set up for the women's as is, 3—1 of the internationals to replace in the morning local time and you're almost ready to go. this is what is _ you're almost ready to go. this is what is about. _ you're almost ready to go. this is what is about. i _ you're almost ready to go. this is what is about. i am - you're almost ready to go. ti 3 is what is about. i am so excited for this. you've got the english team are trailing behind us who have got the music playing. you can really feel that the buzz of the women's ashes series that are starting. women's ashes series that are startina. ~ ., ., , ., starting. we england has not have had their _ starting. we england has not have had their house - starting. we england has not have had their house on - starting. we england has not have had their house on the l have had their house on the trophy for over a decade, how we feeling? i trophy for over a decade, how we feeling?— we feeling? i think england have not we feeling? i think england have got to _ we feeling? i think england have got to stick _ we feeling? i think england have got to stick to - we feeling? i think england have got to stick to their i have got to stick to their strengths. their public going to be relying on sophie. but not to learn on these players as they had in the past. the simple answer is that they have got to beat australia. australia do not lose many

games of cricket. we know that. england have essentially the under dog coming to australia and australia have only lost one seriously in history. there have been so strong for so long, like you say, they have had the ashes for over a decade. from an england point of view, they are underdogs and just play their game, as by the next generation, be entertaining and i guess, when you're playing against you want to make's best, you'vejust got to make's best, you'vejust got to go out and do your best. it sounds so simple but actually, the competitiveness between each team is as close at it however has been.- each team is as close at it however has been. take us inside a — however has been. take us inside a training _ however has been. take us inside a training camp. - however has been. take usl inside a training camp. what are the nerves like before a big series like this. the nerves are _ big series like this. the nerves are bigger- big series like this. tue: nerves are bigger special because you have never played a big sales like this a couple of because i doing flux and doing youtube channels and it has been really entertaining to see behind the scenes and they are

going to go out there monday night. going to go out there monday niuht. ~ . �* , going to go out there monday niuht. ~ ., �* , , night. what i'm sure these . rass night. what i'm sure these grassy brett _ night. what i'm sure these grassy brett banks - night. what i'm sure these grassy brett banks and - night. what i'm sure these l grassy brett banks and seats will be filled this time tomorrow. we will see one of these sides get a positive bit of momentum in this quick fire series. can england get their hands on the trophy or ball will australia be retained the trophy? while the talk there is all about the ashes, the england captain, heather knight, has commented on the recent controversy surrounding the men's match against afghanistan in pakistan next month. some members of the british parliament want england to boycott the match due to many issues under the taliban, including the treatment of women. it is really difficult. any succumb of the top, that is my view. i know that afghanistan

have sent a clear message to people i have fled the country so it is not a simple boycott and things will change. let's have a quick look at some of the day's other sports stories. india's fast bowler jasprit bumrah will miss the five—match t20 international series with england. bumrah, the highest wicket—taker in the recent test series with australia, which india lost 3—1, had back spasms during the final test in sydney. matthieu pavon has impressed on the second day of the ryder cup—style team cup in abu dhabi. pavon and fellow frenchman romain langasque won both their matches today although continental europe trail great britain & ireland 4—11. the contest�*s main purpose is to allow europe ryder cup captain luke donald to cast his eye over potential team members for the clash with the united states in september and gael monfils has made history by becoming the oldest and gael monfils has made

history by becoming the oldest winner of an atp tour singles title with victory over belgium's zizou bergs at the asb classic in auckland. at 38 years and four months old, monfils takes the record from swiss great roger federer who was 38 years and two months old when he won the basel title in 2019. staying down under, the australian open gets underway overnight. britain's sonay kartal will playjessica bouzas maneiro of spain at around 3am. while tomorrow morning, two time defending women's singles champion and number one seed aryna sabalenka will take on 2017 us open winner sloane stephens in the first round. sabalenka is looking to become the first player to win three straight australian open women's singles titles since switzerland's martina hingis in the late 1990's. of course, i know that i have the possibility to turning legend. this is by warning three times in a row but once

again, i do not over think about that, ijust again, i do not over think about that, i just want to do myjob and hopefully, by the end of this tournament, i would be super proud of myself and i'll be able to put my name in history. in the men's draw, number 2 seed alexander zverev, will face french wildcard lucas pouille in the last match on rod laver arena on the first day's play. the german reached the semi—finals last year, where he was beaten by eventual runner up daniil medvedev. this year zverev is aiming to go all the way and win his first grand slam. everybody knows what i am chasing and everybody knows what might ago and my dreams are. it is to win. number two in the world, i think go