Northampton full-back George Furbank will make his England debut against France in the Six Nations on Sunday.

With Anthony Watson ruled out, Furbank, 23, lines up in the back three along with Elliot Daly and Jonny May.

There is no Mako Vunipola, with Joe Marler starting at loose-head prop and Ellis Genge on the bench.

Tom Curry starts at number eight with Courtney Lawes on the flank, while Charlie Ewels partners Maro Itoje in the second row.

"We have picked a strong forward pack which is part of the England way and an exciting backline with young George Furbank playing his first Test at full-back," said head coach Eddie Jones.

England: Furbank; May, Tuilagi, Farrell (capt), Daly; Ford, B Youngs; Marler, George, Sinckler, Itoje, Ewels, Lawes, Underhill, Curry.

Replacements: Cowan-Dickie, Genge, Stuart, Kruis, Ludlam, Heinz, Devoto, Joseph

Stuart set for debut

Jones has made three personnel changes from the side dismantled by South Africa in the World Cup final in November.

Billy Vunipola and Watson are both missing through injury, while the reason for Mako Vunipola's absence has yet to be specified.

The prop picked up a minor eye injury in the week, although the England management insisted he was available for selection.

Elsewhere Jones has reverted to his World Cup axis in the midfield, with George Ford continuing at fly-half and captain Owen Farrell alongside Manu Tuilagi in the midfield.

Among the replacements, Bath tight-head Will Stuart is set to make his debut, while Exeter centre Ollie Devoto is in line to win just his second cap.

"It has been a massively exciting week for us," Jones added.

"It is the start of the Guinness Six Nations, the best rugby tournament in the world. We have had a great preparation in Portugal with a quality training week this week."

'Now is the time for Furbank'

Furbank has enjoyed a breakthrough season at Northampton, and former England and Saints scrum-half Matt Dawson says the time is now right to test him at the highest level.

"We will find out if he is ready," Dawson said on the Matt Dawson Rugby Show on BBC 5 live.

"I truly believe that for every nation in the Six Nations, this next year - or the next 18 months - is when we should be seeing players like Furbank."

Arsenal have signed defender Cedric Soares from Southampton.

The 28-year-old was part of Portugal's Euro 2016 winning squad and had been a regular starter under Ralph Hasenhuttl at Southampton until he sustained a foot injury at the start of January.

The injury to Soares means that he may not be available for selection for another three weeks.

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Soares will join new recruit Pablo Mari as a possible solution to Arsenal's defensive crisis with the club managing just four clean sheets in the Premier League this season.

The issues in defence have been prompted by injuries to key players including Calum Chambers, Kieran Tierney, Sead Kolasinac and Shkodran Mustafi.

Last January, Soares joined Inter Milan on loan. The Italian club also had the option of buying the defender which they declined to take up.

Gareth Bale will not make a shock return to Tottenham, sources have told ESPN, while Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane has said he is "counting on" the forward between now and the end of the season.

"Gareth is with us," Zidane said in a news conference on Friday ahead of the derby with Atletico Madrid in La Liga on Saturday. "I'm counting on him. I'm not contemplating that possibility."

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Bale picked up an ankle injury in a cup game on Jan. 22 -- when he scored his first club goal since September -- and has missed Real Madrid's last two matches, against Real Valladolid and Real Zaragoza.

He took part in full training with his teammates at the club's Valdebebas training base on Friday morning and is available for the Madrid derby.

ESPN has approached Bale's agent Jonathan Barnett -- who told us earlier this month that Bale was "going nowhere" in January and a summer move was "very unlikely" -- for comment.

He has a contract at Real Madrid until 2022.

In December, Barnett admitted Bale is "not ecstatic" at the club, where he has endured a turbulent, injury-hit season including being booed by the Bernabeu crowd after his "Wales. Golf. Madrid. In that order" flag celebration.

MANCHESTER -- Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has said he is not expecting any more transfer business on deadline day.

United have splashed out to sign Sporting Lisbon midfielder Bruno Fernandes and have seen a bid rejected for Bournemouth striker Josh King.

Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe refused to rule out the possibility that King could leave on deadline day but Solskjaer was not optimistic at a news conference on Friday morning.

"I don't think we'll do any more business," Solskjaer said. "January has always been difficult [to do business]. I'm happy with the ones I've got here. Bruno coming is the big thing."

Solskjaer wants to sign a striker in the final hours of the transfer window after injury to Marcus Rashford.

"Sometimes I say something here and something else happens, sometimes I say I am happy with a player and he gets a different message so I don't want to help or make speculation grow more and more today," Solskjaer said.

"I expect nothing to happen but that doesn't mean it can't happen."

Despite the United manager's pessimism over any more deals, Bournemouth manager Howe could not confirm whether King, who made two substitute appearances for United from 2009-13, would stay at the club during Friday's news conference.

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"I don't want to talk too much about Josh because there's still a day to go," Howe said.

"Let's wait and see. He's a massive part of our team

"I understand Josh's position and what Manchester United means to him.

"If I see my phone ringing today and it's Neill Blake [chief executive] calling, I'd be worried."

Fernandes officially became a United player on Thursday after a drawn out transfer sage ended in a move to Old Trafford that could end up costing €80 million if a series of targets are met.

The Portugal international will train with his new teammates on Friday and is in the squad to face Wolves on Saturday.

"He's fit to play and he will be involved, definitely he will be in the squad," Solskjaer said.

"He has had a few hectic days now and I don't know how much he will be involved but he will be in the squad.

"We followed him for years and he has grown in that period, more mature, assured performances, a great leader of his team and even with all the speculation that has been around him from every club in Europe linked with him, he stayed focused and played some fantastic football for Sporting Lisbon.

"It tells us how professional he is and when you get to meet him and see him, he's a fantastic human being."

The winter transfer window is closing but ahead of a big weekend in the Premier League, here's what to watch for:

JUMP TO: Is Sterling slipping? | Blues, Foxes worthy of Europe? | Man to watch | Game you should watch | Team that needs luck | Stats of weekend | One thing that will happen | Predictions

THE WEEKEND'S BIG QUESTIONS

Will Jose Mourinho play proper football against Manchester City?

The time for arguing about Jose Mourinho's tactics during Tottenham's game against Liverpool a few weeks ago has gone, but for those who objected to his approach it was less that he was being negative in an individual game, more that this was still normal for him. Against a big team he was always going to be at best reactive, at worst cowardly.

It will be interesting to see how he approaches their game against Manchester City on Sunday. He will still be without Harry Kane, so still has a selection of excuses about being unable to play as he'd like, but reinforcements have arrived and he might have new signing Steven Bergwijn available. City are more vulnerable than Liverpool, so will Mourinho attack them a bit more, or will he revert to type? For almost everyone's sake, hopefully it's the former.

Should we be worried about Sterling's form?

Raheem Sterling has scored 20 goals this season for Manchester City. He's five away from matching last term's total, and thus the best ever in his career. But in the last few weeks, something has not been quite right with the England forward: he hasn't scored since mid-December, a seven-game barren spell that's his longest goalless run in nearly three years.

But more than that is the wobbly confidence, the uncertainty that seems to have crept into his game in recent weeks: the chance he missed against Manchester United on Wednesday seemed to be a classic example of Sterling at his worst: dithering, indecisive and ultimately impotent. The evidence of the last couple of seasons suggests this is just a brief dip, but a goal, or even just a convincing performance against Tottenham on Sunday would be extremely welcome.

Will Leicester vs. Chelsea befit a game between Champions League contenders?

In theory, as this is a game between the third and fourth-best teams in the Premier League, it should be a relatively high-quality encounter. But Chelsea and Leicester have been slipping in recent weeks, Frank Lampard's side have been unable to find any consistency and Brendan Rodgers' men have lost two of their last three league games while passing up a terrific opportunity to reach a Wembley final when they fell to Aston Villa in the Carabao Cup semis.

Neither side are in prime form, to say the least, so you're left to wonder how good this game will actually be. In theory it should be excellent, two attacking young teams going at it for the glory of the top four, but in reality both have been stumbling. It could turn out to be a pretty low-quality affair.

MAN TO WATCH

Jack Grealish

Aston Villa's Carabao Cup semifinal win over Leicester City this week was surprising on some levels, but perhaps not if you've been watching Jack Grealish recently. A man who was once a talented but rather flighty playmaker has become the hub around which his team has been built. He is a huge reason for their trip to Wembley but the team have come through a minor injury crisis to be on top in their survival scrap, so credit is due all round.

Villa's game against Bournemouth is one of the biggest this weekend, arguably the biggest, and a win for Villa would put them five points clear of their opponents and the bottom three. If Grealish continues his recent form, the Cherries will have to do something pretty special to stop him.

THE GAME YOU'RE NOT PLANNING TO WATCH...BUT SHOULD

West Ham vs. Brighton

The general vibe after West Ham's 2-0 defeat to Liverpool on Wednesday was relatively positive: after all, if you're West Ham and you keep this Liverpool side down to just two goals, that's a success of sorts. But the facts are that it represented West Ham's third defeat in the last four, and they are only outside the bottom three on goal difference.

Brighton aren't doing much better, having won just one of their last 12, and sit only two points above their opponents. This game won't be decisive in the relegation scrap, but it could give a good indication of which team has the stones to compete in high-stakes encounters.

THE TEAM THAT NEEDS A BIT OF LUCK

Southampton

Under normal circumstances, a team that had won five of their last seven and their last four away games, would be worth a decent bet going into their weekend fixture. If Southampton were travelling to play a normal team, they would almost certainly be favourites.

But Southampton are playing Liverpool, a side so good that after their win over West Ham, Jurgen Klopp said their biggest problem was losing concentration as they dominated the game. Who knows: maybe Southampton are the team to finally stop this juggernaut, but they will not only need to be good, they'll need to be lucky too.

STATS OF THE WEEKEND

Provided by ESPN Stats & Information

- Danny Ings can become the third player to score both home and away against Liverpool in a Premier League season having previously represented the Reds in the competition, after Dean Saunders and Jonjo Shelvey.

- Norwich City are the only team yet to score from a free kick in the Premier League this season, while Newcastle United have netted more such goals than any other side, with six.

- Sheffield United are looking for their first win in 20 Premier League trips to London. They have come from behind to draw all four of their fixtures in the capital this season.

- Wolves seek to become the third team in Premier League history to win at both Manchester clubs in the same season.

ONE THING THAT WILL DEFINITELY HAPPEN

Adama Traore vs. Luke Shaw will be ugly

The only unconvincing thing about Adama Traore in the last few months has been his claim that he doesn't lift weights. The beefcake Spaniard's development has been exceptional, and he has turned into one of the most potent weapons in the Premier League.

The winger looked like one of the few players who genuinely scared Liverpool when he faced them last week, and was almost used as a probe against Southampton before that, moved around the pitch by Nuno Espirito Santo to find their weakness before eventually punching through it. So you might wince when you wonder what Traore will do if Ole Gunnar Solskjaer picks Luke Shaw to mark him on Saturday: whatever happens, you can bet it won't be pretty.

PREDICTIONS

Leicester 2-2 Chelsea

Liverpool 3-1 Southampton

Bournemouth 1-2 Aston Villa

Newcastle 2-0 Norwich

Watford 1-1 Everton

West Ham 1-2 Brighton

Crystal Palace 0-1 Sheffield United

Manchester United 0-2 Wolverhampton Wanderers

Burnley 1-3 Arsenal

Tottenham 1-3 Manchester City

Season in nutshell

The Hurricanes had an up and down season with the team affected heavily by absences through injury and international duty. They traded wins and losses in the first six games before two key bowlers in Riley Meredith and James Faulkner suffered significant injuries. Meredith was ruled out for the season with a side strain while Faulkner would only return from a calf injury late in the tournament. The team went on a four-game winless stretch in the middle of the tournament to put finals in jeopardy. The dynamic opening pair of Matthew Wade and D'Arcy Short that had dominated the last two seasons was broken up by international duty. The pair only batted together in the last three games of the season and combined for a stunning 203-run stand in the final home and away game against the Adelaide Strikers to sneak into the finals. But they lost the Eliminator against Sydney Thunder at home to be bundled out of the tournament.

What went right?

Individually, a number of their batsman had excellent seasons on numbers alone. Wade and Short both scored centuries and passed 50 four times each. Wade was exceptional in his eight innings scoring 351 runs, averaging 50.14 and striking at an incredible 171.21. Short was not as prolific as previous editions but still scored 357 runs in nine innings. Unfortunately, the pair didn't get to play together enough and both men missed six games each.

What went wrong?

Their bowling really struggled without Faulkner and Meredith for large parts of the season. They also weren't able to cover the loss of Jofra Archer who was so important in the last two seasons. Faulkner, Meredith, and Nathan Ellis were the only bowlers to concede less than eight runs per over across the tournament. While spin was such a key component to the success of teams like the Melbourne Stars and Sydney Sixers, the Hurricanes spinners were extremely expensive. Qais Ahmad went at 8.14 runs per over bowling predominantly in the middle overs, while Clive Rose and Short both conceded more than nine runs per over.

Performance of the season

The win over the Strikers was their best of the year. They had to win to play in the finals and Wade and Short put on 203 at Adelaide Oval, the second-highest partnership in BBL history, and the Hurricanes made 1 for 217, the highest score ever at Adelaide Oval in the BBL. Wade made a career-best 130 not out from just 61 balls. He faced just five dot balls and struck 11 fours and seven sixes. The Hurricanes then held their nerve with the ball with a very even performance to defend the total on a superb batting surface.

Player of the season

Ellis was outstanding in his first BBL season becoming their go-to bowler, consistently bowling the four toughest overs of the innings, overs 4, 6, 18, and 20. He was able to take 12 wickets at an economy rate of 7.94, which is outstanding in what are traditionally the highest-scoring overs of any T20 innings. His mix of yorkers at close to 140kph and slower balls made him exceptionally hard to hit and his execution got better and better through the tournament. He closed out the game against the Melbourne Renegades defending 11 off the last over against Beau Webster and Dan Christian. He then bowled one of the spells of the tournament in the Eliminator against Sydney Thunder taking 1 for 18 from four overs when the rest of the Hurricanes bowlers went at more than 9.75 per over.

Key stat (Gaurav Sundararaman)

The Hurricanes were heavily dependent on Wade and Short. Both of them were not available through the tournament and that showed in their performances. Last year Wade and Short carried them to the semis while this year they did not have that luxury. The Hurricanes averaged 17.87 for positions 3 to 11 - the lowest in the tournament .

New Zealand A 385 for 5 (Cleaver 111*, Chapman 85*, Young 54, Warrier 2-74) lead India A 216 by 169 runs

At 176 for 5, having lost three wickets for five runs, it looked like New Zealand A were throwing away their chance to build a lead over India A. But Mark Chapman and Dane Cleaver would not have it. The pair put on an unbroken 209-run stand - the highest first-class sixth-wicket partnership ever at the Hagley Oval - to carry the hosts to a comfortable 169-run lead by end of day two.

New Zealand had started the day strongly, the overnight duo of Will Young and Ajaz Patel putting on 66 in the morning before being separated. Young was the first to go, caught behind off Sandeep Warrier after completing a fifty. Glenn Phillips fell soon after, pinned lbw by the left-arm spin of Shahbaz Nadeem. Patel, having done more than his job as nightwatchman, became Warrier's second wicket and New Zealand were on shaky ground, going to lunch on 183 for 5, still trailing by 33 runs.

India would enjoy no more success on the day. Chapman and Cleaver batted out the two final sessions, Cleaver getting to a fifth first-class hundred and Chapman going to stumps in sight of his second. Essentially, Chapman was picking up where he left off against India A in the preceding one-dayers: he had rescued New Zealand A from a top-order slide with an unbeaten 110 in the series-deciding third one-dayer.

India A did not recover from his blows in that game, and they have quite a bit of work ahead of them if they are to do so this time around.