Pochettino tells players ‘be careful’ as they face Middlesbrough without VAR

Mauricio Pochettino warned Chelsea's players to prepare to be cautious in unfamiliar circumstances as they face playing without VAR when they meet Middlesbrough in Tuesday’s (9 January) Carabao Cup semi-final first leg at the Riverside.

The absence of VAR is because stadiums outside of the Premier League are typically not fitted with the technology required for the video assistant referee.

Pochettino said: "We need to be in a different way in our approach. We need to change. Now, it’s just the referee that is going to decide, we need to be cautious.

“It’s a different game. We need to be clever in this way.”