Replays have been scrapped for the third and fourth round of this season's FA Cup, the FA has confirmed.

Watford face Leicester City away in round three of the competition, which will take place on Saturday, January 8.

Traditionally, if the game ended in a draw, a replay would then be played at the away side's ground at a later date, however the FA has decided to remove the replay system for this season to avoid a backlog of fixtures amid soaring coronavirus rates.

A large number of fixtures throughout the Premier League and the EFL have had to be postponed due to outbreaks within clubs, with the highly transmissible Omicron variant causing schedule problems.

Therefore, extra time and penalties will be used to decide fixtures instead of a reverse fixture.

Replays will be reinstated for the following season.

The FA said: "This exceptional decision was approved by the FA Board on Friday 17 December and has been taken in the wider interest of English football to alleviate the possibility of fixture congestion following several postponements in recent days and continued uncertainty ahead due to COVID-19.

Ties in the third and fourth rounds of this season’s competition will be played to a finish on the day, with extra-time and penalty shootouts if required.

Replays will return up to and including the fourth round of the Emirates FA Cup from the 2022-23 season onwards."