Arsenal are scheduled to return to action on Thursday night against Liverpool in the Carabao Cup semi-final second leg.
The tie is finely poised at 0-0 following a spirited display from Mikel Arteta's side at Anfield just under a week ago where they played for over an hour with 10-men after Granit Xhaka was sent-off.
Therefore, everything is set up for an exciting decider under the lights at the Emirates Stadium with both teams aiming to join Chelsea in next month's final at Wembley.
But will the game go ahead? Well, it has been reported that Arsenal are uncertain if they will be able to fulfil the fixture against Liverpool.
This follows on from Sunday's postponed North London Derby against Tottenham Hotspur where the Gunners had fewer than the required number of players available for the match (13 outfield players and one goalkeeper).
In addition, the aforementioned report states that Arsenal will continue to assess players on a daily basis and a decision will be made closer to the game.
If the Gunners aren't able to fulfil the fixture they would have to submit a formal application to the EFL to request a postponement of Thursday's semi-final second leg.
If that's granted, Arsenal will not be forced to forfeit the tie, just like how Liverpool didn't have to when the original first-leg tie at the Emirates was postponed as a result of a COVID-19 outbreak in the Reds' squad.
Instead, as per the EFL website, the rearranged fixture would have to take place before the next round of the competition is scheduled.
"For example, the Second Round of the Competition is scheduled to take place on 24 August 2021, in the event that a First Round Competition Match was postponed, the rearranged match must take place by 23 August 2021," the rules state.
"In the event that the match cannot be rearranged for a suitable date before 23 August 2021 then the Management Committee will award a bye in accordance with Rule 5.2."
This means if the Arsenal vs Liverpool semi-final second leg is postponed, the rearranged game must take place before the final at Wembley Stadium at the end of February.
Although this potential scenario does pose a problem, as the Premier League winter break takes place between 23 January and 7 February, there's not a lot of time for the game to be rearranged.
Currently, the only free midweek slot for both teams is the week beginning February 21 - six days before the Carabao Cup final - so it remains to be seen exactly how this possible situation would be handled.
Interestingly, last season teams who were unable to fulfil a Carabao Cup fixture were forced to withdraw from the competition and that benefited Tottenham Hotspur, who were handed a bye after a Covid outbreak at Leyton Orient.
However, the rules changed for the latter rounds as the new laws, as per the Manchester Evening News, stated the rule forcing clubs to withdraw from the competition if they cannot fulfil a fixture was only in place until the fourth round.
As a result, if Arsenal end up requesting Thursday's tie to be postponed and it's granted, then the semi-final, second leg would be rearranged, rather than Liverpool being handed a bye into the Carabao Cup final.
