arsenal against irish side dundalk. now the dundalk manager called this a mismatch, if this was a boxing match. patrick gary has been looking at that one. once upona once upon a time, according to legend, a warrior was born in the irish town of dundalk. he would take on all comers alone but whipping himself up into a frenzy. the town took that spirit to its heart. dundalk of thought about creating their own legend. rising from the brink of oblivion to champions of ireland, venturing improperly across the europa league. now they arrive at arsenal, and their italian managerfull of the at arsenal, and their italian manager full of the courage. we come here to play, notjust to defend and stay behind, and wait for them to score us. stay behind, and wait for them to score us. and then softening at the end of the game. no, not this. i will see them take responsibility in the field some point they're not shy at dundalk. their home, oriole park, informs visitors that this is the home of football. but they nearly lost it all together. it was saved from insolvency eight years ago, they appointed stephen kenny and would have won the title five times in the last six years. but the population of the town could easily fit inside arsenal's stadium — where they allowed to. so what's the game plan against the gunners? well, we will pray heavily. we will enjoy the occasion, to be fair. we want to be competitive. we want to try and hang in there as long as we can, and be competitive, and do our country, town and community proud. not eve ryo ne town and community proud. not everyone in ireland will be behind dundalk tonight though. arsenal have a big irish fan base, and michael duffy has terry as his hero. he was my hero when i was growing up, for terry. he came back two weeks later saying he was a saint, i can have it. in normal times, saying he was a saint, i can have it. in normaltimes, michaelterry, duffy and co. would be boisterously backed by the army. not there will be few witnesses to their moment. but the team town rooted in warrior stories are hoping to record a modern one. patrick gary, bbc news. big stage for dundalk tonight then at the emirates. has a bit of a david versus goliath field. regarding admitting fans into stadiums, we know that there's no progress here in england, but as far as the bundesliga, which has readmitted fans, this means no spectators in the bundesliga for another month now? that's right, this'll be the last one with fans. germany has led the weight during the peak of the pandemic. they were the peak of the pandemic. they were the first leak to resume in may and they've allowed fans back into stadiums in limited numbers since september —— first league. but fans have now been banned from monday next week. the german football league have said they were disappointed after the bundesliga clu bs ha d disappointed after the bundesliga clubs had developed a plan for protection of supporters in stadiums, which had also been agreed with local health authorities as well. but the german football expert told us earlier today that they would love to have fans still inside their stadiums. would love to have fans still inside theirstadiums. stopping would love to have fans still inside their stadiums. stopping them from coming was necessary to keep the season coming was necessary to keep the season going. at least let's play with without fans, but let's play. if they have to stop, and i'm sure we will see the club struggling, very, very much. bayern munich and borussia dortmund — they can survive quite a while, but quite a while doesn't mean forever, it just while, but quite a while doesn't mean forever, itjust means while, but quite a while doesn't mean forever, it just means that they are calculating it in months maybe until next summer. but then they definitely need the money, and smaller clubs have big needs. so fans won't be allowed to watch matches in stadiums in germany after this weekend. france announced today that no fans will be allowed at any professional sport in the country, after their new lockdown rules have come into force. nothing more's been said from the english fa or the uk government in light of this, but with other countries halting fans in stadiums, john — it would be hard to imagine any coming back into english stadiums any time soon. it feels like that, the day is getting further and further away. many thanks for that. a quick look at some other headlines... sheffield united midfielder john lundstram looks set to leave the club after turning down a new contract. manager chris wilder says he could leave injanuary, rather than on a free transfer at the end of the season. great britain's women have slumped to another defeat in the hockey pro league. they lost 3—0 to the netherlands this afternoon. gb are sixth in the table, with just six points from six games. netherlands are top. great britain's men are also playing the netherlands this evening ireland's sam bennett was demoted for shoving another rider on stage nine of the vuelta a espana. bennett, who won the green jersey at the tour de france, ineos grenadiers' richard carapaz remains in the overall lead dan evans beat austria'sjurij rodionov in straight sets to reach the third roud of vienna open. his opponent had casued an upset beating world number 12 denis shapobolov in the opening round, but evans proved too strong. he'll play either stefanos tsitsipas or grigor dimitrov next. and eoin morgan's kolkata knight riders are facing a real battle to qualify for the knockout stage of the indian premier league. they fell to another defeat this afternoon — this time, to the chennai super kings. next up: with the tokyo olympics on the horizon, british swimmer siobhan marie o'connor has been taling about the fight she's been facing out of the pool. diagnosed with ulciratrive collitis eight years ago — which has seen her hospitalised twice in the last three years — she's been telling the bbc, it wont end her dream of competing at a third olympic games. i managed to make the home olympic games when i was 16. i was undiagnosed, i wasn't even being treated, i didn't know there is anything wrong. looking back now, i had horrendous symptoms. and i don't mean howl had horrendous symptoms. and i don't mean how i could have gotten through, but i use that as, "if i can get to that, i get through anything." been an up—and—down battle, it gives me massive fatigue, you know, pain. it's really hard, it's an invisible illness, but i think anyone with crohn's colitis will tell you that the biggest trouble is the fact that you can look good on the outside and feel poorly on the inside, and no one can tell. but being a bit more open about it and outspoken about it has given me strength, and if i hear other people talk about it as well, that helps me. trying to make it less of an invisible illness, and i'm a lot better now about talking about my experience. and if i don't feel well, i speak out about it, rather than trust trying to deal with it myself. i got a great team around me who help support me and get me to do but i love, and hope it doesn't stop me. but there are times when it does, it's inevitable. i think that's the thing with sport, you know, that every athlete has something to deal with. in this is just mine. —— and this isjust mine. i have this health battle that's been ongoing, but thankfully didn't stop me from achieving what i wanted to in rio. and it doesn't have to stop me. it's been tough but, the past few years i've really enjoyed it again. i got my motivation back andi it again. i got my motivation back and i always had tokyo in my sites. that's my goal, that's where i want to perform. so it was a blow when he got cancelled. but the thing is, you know, everyone is in the same boat, so know, everyone is in the same boat, soi know, everyone is in the same boat, so i thought it's been potentially pushed back a year, so i've got another year to train and put things right. so i have tojust try another year to train and put things right. so i have to just try to stay positive. and it gives me more time to put things right that didn't necessarily go write the past few yea rs. necessarily go write the past few years. so yeah, more time to prepare and that can only be a good thing. and you can see how siobhan and her london roar team—mates get on in their next international swimming league fixture via the bbc sport website, app, and the bbc iplayer. coverage will begin at 2pm on friday and ham on saturday. next up tonight: david james, the former england goalkeeper, has compiled his black history month england 11. here it is. hi, i'm david james. and for black history month, this is my england team. i kind of gota history month, this is my england team. i kind of got a 3—5— two. so in goal would be myself, not because i love myself loads and think i'm the best for the position. but ironically, i am the only black goalkeeper to ever play for them, which i hope will change soon in the future. glenjohnson, which i hope will change soon in the future. glen johnson, a which i hope will change soon in the future. glenjohnson, a tremendous talent, playing left hand side, right hand side, depending on how the formation goes. does walker was the formation goes. does walker was the rolls—royce of defenders. he was a machine — elegant, quick, and differently worthy. live anderson, first black player to also captain england. this is a flag bearerfor the bam ame community. rio ferdinand — one of the most able defenders of ever played with. if anything, the best defender of ever played with. on the other side, we have ashley cole, the only be ame player to have gotten cole, the only be ame player to have gotte n ca ps cole, the only be ame player to have gotten caps for england. his ability was amazing, quick, skilful. now in my mid field, i've got my hero, ricky hale. luton town legend, didn't play enough for england in my opinion. again, and england captain, compassionate and strong, opinionated, talented, and a winner. john barnes at watford was a legend. i clean his boots at watford. this isa i clean his boots at watford. this is a highly talented player. also jamaican, after my dutch half of my roots are jamaican, so there's a link there. andy cole, an england player who should've got more he makes it upfront. awesome finisher. and my last player, serial reaches, because of his iconic status and pa rt because of his iconic status and part of my england football appraising. —— serial reaches. so my notable bench is emile hiskey, lori cunningham, ian wright, saul campbell, and wes brown. that is my england 11, my bame ii to celebrate black history month. i reckon that site is good for winning or beating everyone. thank you. david james with his teams there. a reminder: tributes have been paid to the former wales wing jj williams, who's died at the age of 72. that's all from sportsday. we'll have more throughout the evening. good evening. today's rain will ease away, leaving quite a lot of cloud as we go through the night, and some sharper showers across northwest scotland for a time, and in particular the parts of wales and southwest england. a very mild start to friday morning, though, widespread double digits across the country. and as we go through the day, the rain will slip its way out of wales and sit across the channel, allowing some sunshine to reach scotland, northern ireland, northwest england and north wales. and a mild afternoon with top temperatures of 17 celsius. more wet and windy weather set to arrive for the start of the weekend, with this significant area of low pressure bringing a spell of heavy rain and gales, or severe gales across exposed coast. the wet weather really quite intense for a time as it drifts its way steadily east, but a trail of showers following with winds gusting in excess of 60 mph at times. but mild, with it top temperatures likely into the afternoon of 17 celsius. and on bbc one we nowjoin the bbc‘s news teams where you are. hello, i'm karin giannone this is outside source. france raises its terror alert level after another horrific attack — this time three people are stabbed to death in nice. translation: once again, our country has been struck by an islamist terrorist attack. this is the moment police stormed a church and shot the suspect — reportedly a 21—year old tunisian who arrived in europe a few weeks ago. the uk's labour party suspends its former leaderjeremy corbyn — after a long—awaited report said it had harassed and discriminated againstjewish members five days out until the us election and both candidates are out