Liverpool are likely to go unpunished by the Football Association (FA) for fielding an under-strength side in Tuesday's 1-0 FA Cup defeat by Championship side Burnley.
FA rule 18a states that, "each team participating in a match shall represent the full available strength of each competing club".
But the huge growth in leading clubs' first-team squads has meant the rule has rarely been enforced in recent seasons and sources told AFP Wednesday they did not expect any action to be taken against Liverpool.
That would leave the way open for Arsenal and Manchester United - assuming in United's case they beat Exeter in Wednesday's third round replay - to rest leading players from their fourth round FA Cup games which take place just three days before their crunch Premier League meeting at Highbury on February 1.
Liverpool though did appear to stretch the rules close to breaking point with the likes of youngsters David Raven, Darren Potter, John Welsh and Zak Whitbread in their team at Turf Moor.
Although Burnley scored through Djimi Traore's 51st minute own-goal they fully deserved their win over their fellow north-west side, Liverpool's misery compounded by finishing the game with 10 men after Antonio Nunez was sent-off shortly before full-time.
But Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez was unrepentant for resting the likes of club captain Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher in what was his first FA Cup tie in charge of the six-times former winners.
"We did the same thing in the League Cup and went to Tottenham with a similar line-up and won," said the Spaniard whose team drew 0-0 with Championship Watford in the first leg of their semi-final tie in that competition earlier this month.
"You cannot use the same players in all the games and we simply don't have the squad to play four competitions at the top level," added Benitez whose side are in the second phase of the Champions League and fifth in the Premiership.
"If I had used more senior players, we may have encountered some problems in the next Premiership match or in the Champions League."
But with Liverpool's English title hopes non-existent and the club an outside bet at best for the Champions, the second leg of their League Cup semi-final at Vicarage Road on Tuesday now takes on greater significance.
Should the Anfield club finish the season without a trophy, many Liverpool fans may not forgive Benitez for his strategy especially as had the Reds beaten Burnley they would have been at home to League One side Bournemouth in the fourth round of the FA Cup.