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Coronavirus in Scotland: What time is the covid-19 briefing today, what can we expect First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to say, will it affect Glasgow, how can you follow?

Scottish Government daily covid briefingScottish Government daily covid briefing
Scottish Government daily covid briefing
The First Minister is preparing to deliver the latest coronavirus briefing today.

Here is all you need to know before Nicola Sturgeon's briefing in Scotland on Tuesday, May 25.

How can you follow?

You can follow the latest covid updates in Scotland via the Scotsman’s liveblog which will keep you up to date with the main points of the briefing as they are announced as well as other news on covid across the country.

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The briefing will also be live-streamed via the Scotsman’s website so you can watch and listen in as the First Minister brief’s the country on the latest covid news.

What can we expect the First Minister to say?

No restriction changes are expected to be announced today in the briefing.

However, we can expect the First Minister to address the rising covid numbers across parts of Scotland.

Glasgow is currently the only area in Scotland subjected to level three covid restrictions.

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However, there are other council areas such as Clackmannanshire and East Renfrewshire, which are facing increasing covid infection rates.

Clackmannanshire currently has the highest covid rate in Scotland, with a seven-day average rate of 139.7 cases per 100,000 people while Glasgow sits at 136.8 per 100,000.

The First Minister may also address vaccination rollout after large numbers of appointments were missed at Glasgow’s Hydro.

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What time will the covid briefing be and who is involved?

The briefing will be held at 12.15 pm on Tuesday, May 25 at St Andrew’s House and will be followed by questions from the media.

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Nicola Sturgeon will be joined by chief medical officer Dr Gregor Smith.

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Blackpool v Huddersfield Town - live updates

Key Events

  • FT: Blackpool 0-3 Huddersfield Town
  • Seasiders aiming to make it back-to-back league wins
  • Ollie Turton set to make his return to Bloomfield Road after surprise summer exit

And kick-off is moments away.

The atmosphere is already building nicely. Can the Seasiders build on Saturday’s magnificent display against Fulham and make it back-to-back league wins?

We’ll soon find out - up the mighty Pool!

Warm-ups done - not long to go!

CameraSport - Paul Greenwood

A pleasant surprise

Madine had initially been left out of Blackpool's 25-man squadMadine had initially been left out of Blackpool's 25-man squad
Madine had initially been left out of Blackpool's 25-man squad

Gary Madine has surprisingly been named on the bench for Blackpool for tonight’s game against Huddersfield.

The striker had initially been left out of Blackpool’s 25-man squad that they had to recently submit to the EFL following the closure of the transfer window.

But clubs are now able to register injured players at any time, as long as it’s 24 hours before a fixture.

Madine has endured a nightmare 2021, having gone under the knife during the summer after a niggling groin injury plagued the second half of his 2020/21 season.

But the striker has recently returned to training and is now fit enough to be named in Blackpool’s 18-man squad.

For more on this story, click here.

After sealing their first three points of the season on Saturday with a magnificent win against promotion favourites Fulham, many expected Critchley to name an unchanged side for this encounter.

But Blackpool’s head coach likes to keep us all guessing and has ended up making two, albeit ones we weren’t necessarily expecting.

Kenny Dougall comes into the side in place of Kevin Stewart, who drops down to the bench after only making his first start of the campaign on Saturday.

Shayne Lavery returns to the fold to partner Jerry Yates in attack, while Tyreece John-Jules moves over to the left wing. That sees Keshi Anderson drop down to the bench.

Elsewhere, there is a surprise inclusion on the bench in the form of Gary Madine, who returns from a groin problem to be registered in Blackpool’s 25-man squad.

Matty Virtue (ACL), Grant Ward (achilles), Demetri Mitchell (knee), Owen Dale (foot) and CJ Hamilton (foot) all remain sidelined.

Teddy Howe, Oliver Sarkic, Bez Lubala and Joe Nuttall continue to be left out having not been registered in Blackpool’s squad.

Huddersfield, meanwhile, make three changes to the side that lost somewhat unfortunately to Stoke City on Saturday.

Former Seasider Ollie Turton is named among the substitutes having made the surprise move to West Yorkshire just four days after Blackpool’s Wembley triumph in May.

Team news in 15 minutes

I’d be surprised if Neil Critchley opts to make many changes tonight, if any. But I’ve been known to be wrong in the past!

Perhaps Shayne Lavery for Tyreece John-Jules seems the most likely? Critchley could always opt to rest and rotate as well.

Ollie Turton is currently out inspecting the Bloomfield Road pitch, which is a place he’ll know well having spent four years on the Fylde coast.

The defender has made eight appearances for the Seasiders so far this season, but started Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Stoke City on the bench.

Here’s the latest odds for tonight’s game courtesy of Betfair.

Blackpool win: 13/8 Draw: 21/10 Huddersfield win: 15/8

PA

“Blackpool have a lot of their squad from last season, so they have a very competitive team and some good players in on loan,” Huddersfield boss Carlos Corberan said.

"They're a team that have kept the base of last year and added some players that allow them to be more competitive.

“Drawing against Bournemouth was no coincidence and neither was their win against Fulham.

"They have a very good coach and competitive players and that's going to make them difficult to beat.

“Blackpool want to play from the back and use their keeper a lot to play out.

"If you use the keeper you are using 11 players to attack, so it's always more of a challenge to play a team that uses the keeper to attack.”

Neil Critchley’s pre-match comments

Neil Critchley knows his side are in for a tough game against HuddersfieldNeil Critchley knows his side are in for a tough game against Huddersfield
Neil Critchley knows his side are in for a tough game against Huddersfield

“The manager used to be at Leeds working under Bielsa, so Huddersfield adopt a similar type of approach.

“They’ve started the season very well and they’ve improved on where they were last season and it’ll be a very difficult game for us.

“It will be an exciting, entertaining game and hopefully we can go and perform as well as we did on Saturday, even though it will be different because the opposition will provide a different obstacle to Fulham.

“In many ways, it will be just as tough as Saturday. But it should be a really good game of football.

“They play on the front foot and they have no fear. They try to take the game to the opposition and I like that.

“They’re not passive, there’s no fear factor in the way they approach games. It’s about taking the game to the opposition.

“It’s a bit of a risk, but I like it. I’m not saying it’s right by the way, because everyone has their own way of setting up their team and that’s the beauty of football.

“The difference between teams makes it so interesting and so appealing to everyone.

“But I like the way Carlos has gone about his business, because you can see he likes to coach his team and they’ve got some good players. We’re in for a tough task.”

The £1m-rated attacker was linked with a move to Sunderland and Preston North End but joined Blackpool on deadline day.The £1m-rated attacker was linked with a move to Sunderland and Preston North End but joined Blackpool on deadline day.
The £1m-rated attacker was linked with a move to Sunderland and Preston North End but joined Blackpool on deadline day.

Neil Critchley revealed during Monday morning’s pre-match press conference that there’s nothing new to report fitness wise.

It means the head coach will likely have the same set of players available to him than on Saturday.

Matty Virtue (ACL), Grant Ward (achilles), Demetri Mitchell (knee), Owen Dale (foot, above), CJ Hamilton (foot) and Gary Madine (groin) all remain sidelined.

The likes of Oliver Casey, Callum Connolly and Reece James weren’t named in the squad against Fulham on Saturday.

Elsewhere, Teddy Howe, Oliver Sarkic, Bez Lubala and Joe Nuttall will continue to be left out after not being named in Blackpool’s 25-man squad.

Shayne Lavery will be pushing to start in place of Tyreece John-Jules after only being named on the bench against Fulham having only just returned from international duty with Northern Ireland.

As for Huddersfield, Danny Ward (hip), Ryan Schofield (back), Pipa (hip), Jordan Rhodes (back) and Aaron Rowe (toe) all missed out at the weekend as a result of injuries.

Josh Ruffels returned to the fold after recovering from Covid, while Levi Colwill and Danel Sinani will be pushing for starts after only being named on the bench against Stoke on their return from international duty.

Blackpool take on the Terriers looking to make it back-to-back wins in the Championship after seeing off Fulham at the weekend to claim their first three points of the season.

Josh Bowler was their hero, scoring a superb solo effort to beat a Fulham side that started the day atop of the Championship table.

As for Huddersfield, they still remain ninth despite slumping to an unfortunate 2-1 defeat to Stoke City at the weekend.

Coming off the bench on Saturday was a certain Ollie Turton, who made a surprise move to West Yorkshire just four days after Blackpool’s play-off triumph at Wembley.

The defender made eight appearances so far this season for his new club after opting to bring an end to his four-year stay at Bloomfield Road.

Tonight’s encounter will be the first meeting between the two sides since the infamous final game of the 2014/15 season, which was abandoned due to fan protests.

And welcome to tonight’s live blog, where we’ll bring you all the build-up, team news and regular match updates from Blackpool’s Championship encounter against Huddersfield Town.

Follow the blog for live updates throughout the night.

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