natalie pirks, bbc news.t the efl cup final has been moved to the end of april next year. the idea is to give more chance for fans to attend the game at wembley. the english football league said numbers allowed for the rescheduled fixture on april 25th will depend on government guidelines at the time. no fans are allowed to watch elite sport in london at present. two time women's world cup winner alex morgan says she'll be forever grateful to tottenham hotspur women after announcing she was returning to playing in the united states. the striker onlyjoined spurs in september as she made her competitive return following the birth of he daughter earlier in the year. she scored two goals in five games and is expected to rejoin orlando pride in the nwsl. rugby union's second tier — the championship — has been delayed until march — meaning saracens and their england internationals won't play a competitive game before the six nations. the championship was due to begin injanuary but recent coronavirus restrictions ha

natalie pirks, bbc news. 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 di

natalie pirks, bbc news. of april next year. the idea is to give more chance for fans to attend the game at wembley. the english football league said numbers allowed for the rescheduled fixture on april 25th will depend on government guidelines at the time. no fans are allowed to watch elite sport in london at present. two time women's world cup winner alex morgan says she'll be forever grateful to tottenham hotspur women after announcing she was returning to playing in the united states. the striker onlyjoined spurs in september as she made her competitive return following the birth of he daughter earlier in the year. she scored two goals in five games and is expected to rejoin orlando pride in the nwsl. rugby union's second tier — the championship — has been delayed until march — meaning saracens and their england internationals won't play a competitive game before the six nations. the championship was due to begin injanuary but recent coronavirus restrictions have hampered preparations for many clubs. it m

natalie pirks, bbc news, wembley arena.s. mariah carey's "all i want for christmas" was kept off the top spot by east 17's stay another day, back in 1994. but now it's knocked ariana grande off the top spot. time for a look at the weather. here's ben rich. good evening. i don't think the weekend weather will top any chance, there's quite a lot of cloud and rain in the full cast. we certainly had some rain today, quite a messy day, one bout of rain clearing the east coast but clinging on in the east coast but clinging on in the east coast but clinging on in the east coast of scotland, more showers behind and now this and of heavy downpours moving in across northern ireland and western scotland. tonight, most of us will keep the cloud and showery rain at times, holding the temperatures up in most places. later tonight temperatures will drop across parts of northern ireland, west wales and north—west england as the sky is clear. this clear sky is tied in with this high pressure, a long way to the south but just getting its pre

natalie pirks, bbc news, tottenham. that's it. now on bbc one, time for the news where you are.ave a very good night. hello and welcome to our look ahead to what the the papers will be bringing us tomorrow. with me are deputy political editor at the sunday times, caroline wheeler and author and journalist rachel shabi. tomorrow's front pages, starting with. .. the i leads on the news that brexit trade talks have been paused for the weekend in effort to get all sides to hammer out a deal — the paper also points out that the pound hits its highest level against the dollar since 2018 as hopes rise for an eu trade agreement. that story also top for the ft — which notes borisjohnson‘s 11th hour visit to brussels tomorrow in an attempt to break the deadlock the telegraph claims that it's brussels' request for unfettered access to fishing in british waters which is the reason behind the deadlock — the paper also carries an image of the queen — carrying out her first diplomatic meeting via video link. the likes of tom kerridge and jodie kidd join the mirror's campaign to give the £2 bil

natalie pirks, bbc news, wembley arena.duke and duchess of cambridge and their three children made a special appearance tonight at the pantomime — their first royal engagement together as a family. they watched the show, held as a thank you to key workers in the capital for their efforts during the pandemic, from the royal box. prince william also paid tribute to dame barbara windsor, describing her as a "national treasure". that's it. now on bbc one, time for the news where you are. have a very good night. hello and welcome to our look ahead to what the papers will be bringing us tomorrow. with us are former conservative adviser mo hussein and harriet line, the deputy political editor of pa. thanks for sharing your friday evening with us. let's get start with some of the papers we have. the telegraph says schools have been threatened with legal action by ministers amid growing fears that many will close early to reduce the spread of coronavirus among teenagers before christmas. the i has an intriguing story. it says that g

here's natalie pirks.pressing topics in sport right now, head injuries in their long term effects on the brain. today, trials of permanent additional head injury substitutes we re additional head injury substitutes were approved from january. john stiles, who lost his father, world cup winner nobby, to dementia in late october, says it's about time. players welfare should be at the forefront. this isn'tjust a minor issue. it's not like he's done his knee, keep them out for five minutes, you were talking about the brain. it doesn't matter if you are a millionaire footballer or whatever. you get brain damage, then you get dementia, no money will fix that. former spurs defenderjan vertonghen knows this to his cost. the belgian says trying to play on after a clash of heads in the champions league semifinal last year affected his game for months. translation: i've had a lot of problems with it for a long time. headaches and dizziness. as the first time i've said it. i should not have played on. i was a total fo

natalie pirks has more.ball, head injuries and the effects, the long—term effects on the brain. ever since a landmark study last year found that footballers were three times more likely to suffer from dementia. now we don't yet know the exact reason for that, but concussion could be a pa rt for that, but concussion could be a part of it. so, today, the pair merely because agreed that from next month, it will bring in trials of two permanent head injury substitutes, one—for—one team who has suffered the player getting the head injury, and an additional substitute for the other team as well, regardless of how money substitutes they've already made. it's got its critics, though, brain injury charity group, headway, has told the bbc it's mere window dressing and that what it would really like to see come in is what they've got in rugby union, which is temporary concussion substitutes which gives the doctor time to properly assess and diagnose the concussion. the governing body said though yesterday, the lawmaker

our correspondent natalie pirks reports. # ohhhh, anthonyjosh—ua! # he was back. and so were they.erformance exploded into life in round three. remarkably, pulev and his granite chin broke into a smile amidst the pounding. the uppercut was joshua's weapon of choice throughout. and that one really hurt kubrat pulev! but in the ninth, it was the full force of his right hand that ended pulev‘s night. while he was still taking a bow, though, britain's other heavyweight champion made it clear that the unification fight the world wants could soon be a reality. i want the fight. i want the fight next. i'll knock him out inside three rounds. tyson fury is already the bookmaker‘s favourite but after avoiding all mention of his name next week, this week, aj finally went there. tyson has talent and he will bring out the best in me. so that is brilliant, i really feel like his confidence, and the bookmakers', i've studied him and watched him so when i fight him it will be good to change those odds and put them in my favour. joshua's promoter says the crux of the deal is done, with only things

from there, our sports correspondent natalie pirks reports.o play. it's going to show who was disciplined through lockdown. that's what saturday night will show, who worked on their craft during lockdown, who's improved. even though they haven't been competing, they've still been able to train and hone new skills. it's joshua dancing, dancing! those skills were on display in the saudi arabian desert last december, when he avenged the first defeat of his professional career against andy ruiz with a disciplined performance. redemption time for anthony joshua! his opponent tomorrow is kubrat pulev, a powerful bulgarian fighting in his late father's memory. boxing will always have its critics, especially in a week where there's been such a focus on head injury in sports. but it hasn't impacted its popularity. joshua's last fight broke uk pay—per—view records. and tomorrow night sees the first time uk boxing fans are allowed back inside to watch a fight live since the start of the pandemic. just 1000 are lucky enough to have tickets, like superfan

stadium for its partial reopening when the teams meet on sunday, as our sports correspondent, natalie pirksay. they've made a difference, it was more of a ripple than a roar but, after more than 270 days out in the cold, last night's europa league match felt like the best present for arsenal fans. all my christmases come together in one. it's like bread and water, i need it. i need it! it's like oxygen. i feel like a kid at christmas. christmas has come early. they will be back on their sofas this weekend though, as arsenal head to spurs. tottenham staff are taking every precaution to make the stadium safe for home fans on sunday. fans with digital tickets will arrive at designated times to temperature checks and hand sanitiser stations throughout. they brew their own beer here, but it's only to be served with food. and, in the 62,000—seater stadium, only 2,000 fans have golden tickets. remarkably, when fans sit here in the south stand on sunday, it will be the first time they will have seen spurs play arsenal in the new stadium. they will be wearing masks, of course, but the club has no de

natalie pirks reports. it is one of the most pressing topics in sport right now.substitutes were approved from january. and john stiles, who lost his father, world cup winner nobby to dementia in late october, says it is about time. the welfare of players should be at the forefront. you‘re not talking about, this is notjust a minor issue. it is not like, you know, he has done his knee and they keep him on forfive minutes or he pulled a calf muscle. you‘re talking about the brain and it doesn‘t matter whether you are a millionaire footballer or whatever, you get brain damage and you get dementia, no money is going to fix that. former spurs defenderjan vertonghen knows this to his cost. the belgian says trying to play on after a clash of heads in the champions league semifinal last year affected his game for months. translation: i had a lot of problems with it for a long time. headaches and dizziness. that is the first time i have said that, i should not have played on and i was a total fool for nine months. and therefore i could not deliver what i wanted. the fa ha

natalie pirks reports. he was the world cup winner whose dancing the nationouts.ntia truly took hold in later life, nobby stiles' family became convinced heading footballs was to blame. this weekend, they found out their suspicions were right. last year, this neuropathologist published a landmark study, concluding that footballers are more than three times more likely to develop dementia. he studied nobby stiles' brain, and found it to be at an advanced stage of cte. stiles' brain, and found it to be at an advanced stage of (t e. you only see this in circumstances where there has been head impacts, head injuries, and in football, that is a lot of head impact through heading the ball. so what is (t e? it is a form of degenerative brain disease, on the scene in people who have suffered repeated head impacts, in other dementia, the brain appears shrunken under a microscope, but what sets chronic traumatic encephalopathy apart is the build—up of abnormal protein, seen here stained brown. a coronary‘s report in 2002 said a west brom player died from heading a football,