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Wales Online
Wales Online
Sport
Mathew Davies

Gary Lineker pulls out of presenting FA Cup match tonight and is replaced by BBC

Gary Lineker will not present live coverage of the FA Cup tie between Brighton and Grimsby Town tonight due to illness.

The presenter, 62, will be replaced by BBC colleague Alex Scott at the Amex Stadium.

Lineker made a return to the BBC presenter's chair on Saturday evening to front the coverage of Manchester City's FA Cup clash with Burnley at the Etihad.

READ MORE: Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer address BBC MOTD chaos on live TV after 'upset' staff put in 'impossible situation'

But the former Tottenham striker, who was struggling with illness during the match, has pulled out of today's appointment after getting worse overnight.

In a tweet, BBC Sport said: "Due to illness, we've got a line-up change for today's live FA Cup coverage of Brighton v Grimsby on BBC One.

"As viewers will have noticed yesterday, Gary Lineker was struggling with his voice and unfortunately it has deteriorated overnight. Alex Scott will be hosting instead."

Lineker was back in the BBC hotseat following a row over a tweet saw the channel suspend him. In solidarity, a number of his colleagues walked out with him, plunging the broadcaster into chaos.

He was taken off air by the broadcaster after comparing the use of language used around the UK Government's controversial immigration policy to 1930s Germany.

On Saturday evening at the Etihad, Lineker and pundit Alan Shearer addressed the situation which saw them both stand down from duties last week.

"Alan, it's great to be here," Lineker said.

Shearer then said: "Yeah, it's good. I just needed to clear up and wanted to say how upset we were, all the audiences who missed out on last weekend, it was a really difficult situation for everyone concerned, and through no fault of their own some really great people in TV and in radio were put in an impossible situation and that wasn't fair. So, it's good to get back to some sort of normality and be talking about football again."

"Absolutely echo those sentiments," Lineker added.

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