Is Guardiola right to be angry that Guehi cannot play in Carabao Cup final?

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola says that "pure logic" suggests Marc Guehi should be allowed to play in the Carabao Cup final against Arsenal.

Yet the centre-back will be blocked from playing at Wembley on 22 March because he is cup-tied after appearing three times for previous club Crystal Palace earlier in the competition.

But it is not quite as straightforward as that.

Because it was only this season that the EFL relaxed its cup-tied rules to allow a player to feature for two clubs.

And the 25-year-old has fallen foul of a clause which required him to sign for City before the first leg of the 5-1 aggregate semi-final victory against Newcastle.

It means Guehi is the only player to be cup-tied in the Carabao Cup this season.

Guardiola says that the EFL should reconsider but BBC Sport understands his request will not be granted.

Indeed, Arsenal would have had something to say had the EFL altered the rule to allow an England international to play against them in the final.

So what do the rules actually say? Why did they change?

And does Guardiola really have grounds for complaint?

Why did the Carabao Cup rules change?

Before this season once a player featured in the Carabao Cup they became cup-tied.

It meant they could not play for another club in that year's competition.

The idea of being cup-tied has been around for a long time and was intended to protect the integrity of tournaments.

Yet with transfer windows restricting player movement it has begun to appear archaic and subsequently been relaxed in recent years.

In 2018, Uefa removed all cup-tied rules from its European competitions after a series of gradual downgrades.

And this season, English football followed that example.

As of this campaign it is permitted to play for two teams in the FA Cup.

The EFL followed suit, altering regulations of the Carabao Cup. They considered that many players turn out in the first and/or second rounds in August while the window is still open.

And the rationale was that the cup-tied rule was an unfair restriction when there would be so much player movement before the competition progressed.

Does Guardiola have a point about Guehi's availability?

Guardiola has a point if you think there is a contradiction between the rules of the two competitions.

The EFL says it was trying to fall into line with the FA - yet it did so with a key restriction tied to the first semi-final.

Antoine Semenyo was signed from Bournemouth and Max Alleyne recalled from his loan at Watford before City won 2-0 at Newcastle on 13 January. Both could play for two clubs in the Carabao Cup.

Guehi, though, missed the cut-off by seven days.

The FA, on the other hand, has no cut-off date other than the natural closure of the winter transfer window.

Therefore, even though Guehi featured for Crystal Palace in their FA Cup third round defeat to Macclesfield, he can play for City against Salford in the fourth round on 14 February

And so Guardiola probably has a case that there is no real logic to that arbitrary date in the Carabao Cup.

Also consider that if Guehi had not played for Palace or if he had signed from a European club he would have been able to play for City against Newcastle and Arsenal.

The EFL would argue that the rules were laid out at the start of the season and clubs knew the deadline to sign a cup-tied player.

Even so, the EFL has already tweaked the rules once this season.

The original rule change stated that a player who plays for his parent club and then goes out on loan can play for a second club.

But the wording did not cover a player recalled from loan.

Marc Guiu went on loan from Chelsea to Sunderland and scored for the Black Cats in their 1-1 draw with Huddersfield, a tie they lost on penalties.

After Chelsea suffered injury issues Guiu was brought back to Stamford Bridge before the summer window closed.

Chelsea did not realise the striker was eligible to play for them. The EFL then clarified that for consistency the change should also apply to recalled players.

Guiu then played twice for Chelsea in the competition, against Cardiff and Arsenal.

This article is the latest from BBC Sport's Ask Me Anything team.

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