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Why VAR is not being used in Arsenal vs Crystal Palace and Tottenham vs Man United in Carabao Cup

Arsenal are aiming to book a place in the semi-final of the Carabao Cup when they face Crystal Palace this evening.

The Gunners host the Eagles at the Emirates Stadium in the quarter-final of the competition and are just four matches away from winning their first major trophy of the season.

Mikel Arteta's side go into the fixture on the back of a goalless draw with Everton in the Premier League at the weekend, but did defeat Preston North End in their fourth-round tie of the EFL Cup to earn their place in the quarter-final.

Arsenal's clash against Palace is one of three quarter-final ties taking place on Wednesday evening, along with Southampton vs Liverpool and Newcastle vs Brentford. Thursday will see Tottenham Hotspur host Manchester United in their quarter-final contest.

Despite VAR being a regular part of Premier League football in recent years, it's still not the case in the Carabao Cup. The technology will not be used in Arsenal's quarter-final tie against Palace, Tottenham's clash against Man United or the other two fixtures this week.

This is because the use of VAR is not being implemented until the semi-final stage, as has been the case since the 2019/20 season. Ensuring no club has an unfair advantage in the early rounds is one of the reasons why the use of a video assistant referee is not used until the penultimate stage of the competition.

Should Arsenal and Tottenham both book their place in the Carabao Cup semi-final this week, then the two-legged tie will each have VAR in use. The first leg of the semi-final is scheduled to be played on January 8 before the second leg concludes the tie almost a month later on February 5.

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