Carabao Cup VAR rules explained as Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham given crucial reminder

No Video Assistant Referee will be in operation during the Carabao Cup round of 16. Southampton and Brentford booked themselves in the quarter-finals on Tuesday evening, defeating Stoke City and Sheffield Wednesday, respectively.

On Wednesday night, Brighton host Liverpool in the early kick-off. Then, Arsenal face Preston North End, Manchester United play Leicester City, Chelsea clash Newcastle, Aston Villa battle Crystal Palace before, in the later tie, Tottenham Hotspur lock horns with Manchester City.

Due to competition rules, VAR will not be in operation in this round, throwing the on-field match officials under the spotlight. The technology was introduced ahead of the 2018/19 campaign as part of testing for its eventual introduction in the Premier League the following season.

In that term, it was used in every round of the tournament. But, from 2019/20, the English Football League decided to ditch VAR before the semi-final due to the system only being available at English top-flight venues, meaning no team had an unfair advantage.

So, the technology will only be made available during the Carabao Cup in the semi-finals, as well as the final at Wembley Stadium. Despite many Championship stadiums installing VAR since, the rules remains in place.

This has led to outbursts from Premier League managers, who have questioned its absence in ties between teams who have the system installed. In December 2022, Jurgen Klopp complained that VAR should have been used in Liverpool's defeat to Manchester City in the fourth-round.

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"The first chance of Haaland, at the start of the game, was offside," Klopp said after the game. "You don't know? Yes it was. I tell you. That gives the game direction. It was like, bump, 'oh my god, they are through', it was offside, but no flag up, and it gives you a bad feeling.

"I would say if we had VAR, the referees are used to VAR, and all of a sudden you tell them not today. It looked like in a couple of situations they were waiting for it, or thinking there was still VAR.

"But there were a couple of offside decisions, where everyone in the stadium was convinced they were offside. We'll never know probably because we can't play them back.

"But it makes sense if you play a competition and everywhere is VAR [Premier League], why not, especially in a game like this. I understand in earlier rounds it's not possible on all levels, but this, City-Liverpool, all the technical things are here, so why shouldn't we use it?"

Then, earlier this season, Andoni Iraola claimed the absence of VAR cost Bournemouth a place in the third-round after West Ham's late winner appeared to come off Jarrod Bowen’s elbow. The Cherries boss said: "When you think it’s impossible something else happens, OK, but it has happened again.

"It’s even more clear. I don’t know what to say. We are not making these mistakes but we are suffering the consequences, and we are out of the competition because of a mistake.

"I don’t know what we have to do to change something but obviously it’s costing us a lot. We haven’t won on Sunday because of VAR and we are out of the cup because there is no VAR."