Premier League teams enter the FA Cup in the third round, one of the traditionally most anticipated weekends on the English football calendar.
Crystal Palace defend the trophy in 2026, having won the first major honour in their history with a 1-0 victory over Manchester City at Wembley last year. They face non-league Macclesfield on January 10.
The world's oldest cup competition has undergone several changes over recent years, much to the chagrin of traditionalists. Last season, replays were scrapped during full rounds of the competition and the FA has kept this in place.
Now, there are new rules around whether a player is cup-tied or not.
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Cup-tied rule change, explained
Traditionally, a player could only appear for one team for the duration of that season's FA Cup. Therefore, if a player transferred to a new club or returned to their parent club from a loan spell having featured in the FA Cup, they would not be able to play in the tournament again until the following season.
Now, players are able to play for two clubs in the FA Cup during the same season. Players who feature in the qualifying rounds for non-league clubs can represent another team in the competition proper. The latter stipulations for the preliminary rounds are not relevant to Premier League clubs.
This rule could come into practice for last season's winning captain. Crystal Palace and England centre-back Marc Guehi is out of contract this summer and has been linked with a plethora of clubs, including Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal.
Previously, any decision to select Guehi against Macclesfield could have been framed in terms of whether Palace did or didn't want to cup-tie their player in relation to a potential transfer. Now, whether or not Guehi plays at the Leasing.com Stadium will have no bearing on any transfer before the January deadlines.
Can players still be cup-tied in the FA Cup?
The change in the rules around which players are cup-tied in the FA Cup brings it into line with other competitions operating under FIFA's player transfer rules.
World football's governing body does not allow a player to play for more that two teams in the same season in official competitions. These rules were loosened briefly in 2020 as a response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Can players still be cup-tied in the Carabao Cup?
The Carabao Cup has made the same alterations as the FA Cup, allowing players to play for two different clubs during this season's competition.
The additional element in the Carabao Cup is two-legged semifinals. For a player to be eligible for both legs, they must sign for the team taking part before the first leg.
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For example, Antoine Semenyo is eligible to play for Manchester City in the January 13 semifinal, first leg against Newcastle United after signing on January 9 from Bournemouth, who he also represented in the competition this season.
However, if the above speculation regarding Guehi materialised into a transfer after January 13 and before the deadline at the end of the month, he would not be eligible to play in the return leg at the Etihad Stadium on February 4.