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Football League officials have already had to make adjustments to this season's Carabao Cup because of the expansion of European competitions by effectively seeding all the clubs involved in the Champions League and Europa League for the third round so they could not be paired against each other.

And then Manchester City were forced to play two games in three days because of a clash with Manchester United's Europa League game with FC Twente.

They also know the dates for the quarter-finals clash with the "exclusive week" for the Uefa Conference League.

Chelsea play Irish side Shamrock Rovers at Stamford Bridge on 19 December and have Premier League games against Brentford and Everton on 15 and 22 December respectively.

If Chelsea beat Newcastle on Wednesday to reach the last eight, they might end up playing two midweek games that week. The only other option would be to squeeze the game in during a "spare" midweek in January immediately after the Christmas schedule.

But that would depend on who Chelsea were playing against and Premier League fixtures needing to be moved the following weekend.