For erik ten hag. There were nine games in total on wednesday, with lots more on results on the bbc sport website. But to pick out a couple, lazio had the biggest win of the night — 3—0 away at dynamo kyiv — and ligue un�*s nice came from a goal down to draw with real sociedad. The europa league continues on thursday, and tottenham will open their account at home to qarabag. Their midfielder rodrigo bentancur is facing an fa charge for an alleged racist remark made in a media interview this summer, concerning his team—mate son heung—min. Well, the spurs captain has expressed his love for the uruguayan today in spite of bentancur�*s misconduct charge, which, if proven, could bring with it a big ban. I love him, i love him. We had a lot of good memories. We started playing together when hejoined. He apologised straight afterwards, you know, when we had a holiday. I was at home, and i didn't even realise that was what's going on, and hejust sent me a long text that i could feel that was coming from his heart, you know? and afterwards, when we come back to the training ground for the preseason, he just felt really sorry and he almost cried when he apologised. There were two games in the english league cup on wednesday, and holders liverpool came out on top in the all—premier league clash with west ham. 5—1 it ended on a comfortable night for arne slot�*s side. Diogojota scored twice, mohamed salah was also on the scoresheet and cody gakpo also got two goals late on, after west ham went down to ten men when edson alvarez was sent off, not helping the mood around the club. West ham have now lost four of their seven games under boss julen lopetegui. I think you all knew, and that's also what we showed in the last weeks, and today, again, we have many quality players. What pleased me most is, even if a lot of new players come in, they don't come in and try to have a good individual performance, they try to work really hard for the team, because there was a lot of desire not to concede. And as a result of that, we had some good individual performances as well. There was also a big win for arsenal — 5—1 it finished against bolton, who play in the third tier of english football. Teenager ethan nwaneri scored his first arsenal goals, with two on the night for the 17—year—old making his first start for the senior team. Raheem sterling also scored his first arsenal goal following his transfer deadline day move from chelsea. The other goals came from declan rice and kai havertz as they eased through to the fourth round. After all the action, we had the draw for the fourth round, with a couple of eye—catching ties. Holders liverpool will head to brighton, tottenham will host manchester city. Preston of the second tier will host arsenal, while afc wimbledon of the fourth tier have not yet played their third round tie against newcastle, but they know if they can get past them, they will face chelsea. There were two matches in the spanish la liga on wednesday. Barcelona increased their lead at the top of the table with a 1—0 win over getafe — robert lewandowski with the goal in the 19th minute. Girona against rayo vallecano finished goalless. There were four matches in the second leg of the second round of the women's european champions league. Wolfsburg beat fiorentina 5—0 — vivien endemann scoring twice for the home side. They're through 12—0 on aggregate. Valerenga beat anderlecht 3—0, 4—1 on aggregate. Galatasaray needed extra time in their tie against slavia prague — they've gone through 4—3 on aggregate. Benfica were beaten 2—0 by visitors hammarby for a 3—2 aggregate victory. A new global investment group says it is ripping up the rule book to stop women's football becoming too financially reliant on the men's game. Mercury 13 bought its first club, fc como women, earlier this year. They now say that investment in england is an absolute priority. Katie gornall reports from the italian city. In a corner of northern italy, the town of como glistens. It's a location that has always attracted investors, and now they're here for women's football. I've always thought it was a good business. Six months ago, a new investment group bought fc como women. The ambition is very much to build a global portfolio, starting with women's professional teams in europe. We believe that there is an incredible opportunity to give those clubs the fuel that they need to ride, you know, obviously a big wave that we're seeing in women's sport. It was here in these glamorous surroundings that mercury 13 first launched their project. But they have ambitions that extend far beyond the shores of lake como and see investments in english women's football as a priority. The group want to invest over £80 million into the women's game and turn their teams into global brands. They've already given como — a mid—table team in italy's top flight — a whole new look. The training ground has been upgraded and rebranded since the new owners took over, and a raft of new signings have come through the door. They're getting ready for the first game of the new season. I came because of the project. When you have a woman—only club, then a first women's team, it's the first team, you know, and you get everything, you get priorities. It hasn't all been plain sailing. The group were in discussions to buy lewes fc in england, but the deal fell through. For now, the focus is here at stadio ferruccio. Como's supporters are getting their first glimpse of the new team, and so are the owners. They hope women's football can be big business. So what's their response to those who doubt their vision? if you give women's football dedicated management, dedicated capital and nurture it, it's going to grow and blossom tremendously and become that sustainable business. But it's kind of nonsensical. To expect it to be that today, if no—one's invested in it over the last hundred years. So, we're trying. To be that solution. What's your ambition regarding english women's football? to be there. It's a plan that's attracted some high—profile investors. That is the aim, to make sure that it's seen as a viable business, and it's also seen as an exciting product on the pitch, off the pitch, it's something that people want to really get behind. On the pitch, como put their best foot forward — a 1—0 win against ac milan to get their season in italy's top flight off to the perfect start. If this project succeeds, it could change the way investors view women's football in europe. It's far from a sure thing, but no one is doubting their ambition. Katie gornall, bbc news, como. Away from all the football, england say captain ben stokes is on track to participate in the series against pakistan. The all—rounder has been out with a hamstring injury since the beginning of august but has had what's been described as a positive scan. England travel to pakistan on tuesday with the three—test series getting under way on october 7th. Even if he is on track to lead the team, there's doubt over whether he'll be able to bowl. The former world number one naomi osaka opened her challenge at the china open with a straight=sets victory over lucia bronzetti of italy. The four—time grand slam champion closed out her first round match against the 77th ranked italian in 83 minutes in front of her new coach, patrick mouratoglou. Osaka faces a tough second—round clash against 21st seed yulia putintseva. They've met five times, with putintseva winning the first three matches, but osaka taking the two most recent meetings. Just a reminder of our top story. The europa league is up and running. Manchester united were in action. It was a disappointing draw, though, erik ten hag's side against fc twente. You can get more of that on the bbc sport website. See you soon. Hello there. Heavy rain has dominated weather headlines in recent days, and there's more wet weather to come. In fact, for some parts of southern england, we've already seen way above the average monthly rainfall totals. And in these three towns, we've actually had three times more rain than we should have in september. And with the next couple of days, we're likely to see another 50mm at least in some spots, a couple of inches, the darker blues denoting where the heaviest of the rain is likely to be. So, slightly quieter, drier story for scotland, but low pressure dominates, and these weather fronts will move their way steadily eastwards as we go through thursday. That front will grind to a halt, almost, across northern england and into northern ireland, accompanied by a brisk easterly wind, so really feeling quite miserable on those exposed east coasts. To the north of that, it's going to be dry with a few scattered showers. To the south of that, however, some of those showers really could turn quite torrential. Hail, thunder mixed in there. And, yes, it really will be quite significant. But there will be some sunny spells to go with it as well, and it could potentially still feel quite humid here — 18 or 19 degrees not out of the question. Cool in the rain, ten or ii. And that cooler air continues to dominate in scotland. And that's because of a northerly wind, which will gradually push the rain away, but it will introduce this fresher feel for all of us on friday. So there will be some rain lingering across east anglia and south—east england for a time. That eases away during the afternoon. Sunny spells and scattered showers continue for most, but because of the direction of the wind, those temperatures really quite subdued for this time of year — on the whole, generally between nine and 14 degrees. Clear skies continue through the night. That is going to allow the potential for a frost to form, and so it will be a chilly start — low single figures, perhaps below in more rural spots, worth bearing in mind. But that means as we head into the weekend, high pressure is going to build for a time and quieten things down. So not a bad weekend, particularly on the saturday. However, another area of low pressure will gradually move into the south—west as we go through sunday. So saturday, a better day. More heavy rain to come as we move through sunday and into monday. Live from washington, live from washington, this is bbc news. This is bbc news. France and the us try to broker france and the us try to broker a pause in the fighting a pause in the fighting between israel and hezbollah between israel and hezbollah in lebanon — hamas�*s assault on in lebanon — as the un secretary—general as the un secretary—general says the country risks says the country risks becoming another gaza. Becoming another gaza. Ahead of next month's ahead of next month's commemorations in israel commemorations in israel marking the october 7th marking the october 7th attacks, we hear the graphic attacks, we hear the graphic testimony of those who survived testimony of those who survived hamas�*s assault on the nova music festival. And the us pledges more military aid to ukraine — ahead of a meeting between joe biden and volodymyr zelensky.