Fresh from seeing his side beat St. Etienne 3-0 in the first leg of their Europa League round of 16 tie on Thursday night, Jose Mourinho must quickly prepare his side for an FA Cup trip to Blackburn Rovers this weekend.

While the former Chelsea and Real Madrid manager has made a lot of the packed schedule he has ahead, with the Blackburn game falling in between his two Thursday night European clashes, before they then head to Wembley for the EFL Cup final against Southampton a week on Sunday, he has insisted that a strong Manchester United side will be walking out at Ewood Park for the fifth round.

The Portuguese also showed his desire to get going in the Europa League, a competition he has admitted no one at the club has any interest in being involved with going forward, by naming a near full strength side at Old Trafford on Thursday night.

This season has seen swathes of Premier League managers, even those with not a lot else to worry about in terms of their league standing, make wholesale changes for FA Cup clashes, which has come back to bite them.

The likes of Southampton, Liverpool and Bournemouth have all fallen with highly weakened sides in previous rounds, whilst it has even effected Championship clubs with Brighton, Newcastle and Ipswich all enduring the same fate.

Whilst those around him seemingly have their priorities elsewhere, Mourinho remains focused on getting as far as he can on all fronts, a very befitting trait for a Manchester United manager. All of a sudden, the biggest club in English football, and arguably the world, seems to have it’s mojo back.

The first season under Jose Mourinho was always supposed to be a big one and, although a poor start in the Premier League means – barring a monumental shift in form from the leaders – there will be no league title, the season can still be a success.
Should you have offered Mourinho a treble of FA Cup, League Cup and Europa League at the start of the season, which he is clearly chasing, he would have certainly taken it.

It is refreshing, then, to see that the man in the hottest seat in English club football remains to show the oldest domestic competition in association football the respect it deserves. You would expect a strong United side to sail past Blackburn and into the fifth round and, should they do just that, given the lead his side will take to France, it could be the start of a defining week in his maiden season at Old Trafford.