Jose Mourinho prioritising Europa League over FA Cup

Chelsea sacked Mourinho 16 games into a dismal campaign last season, which saw them finish 10th in the Premier League and fail to qualify for even the Europa League. The team will head into Stamford Bridge without any of their star strikers, per ESPN.

Ahead of the Monday, March 13 clash at Stamford Bridge, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Wayne Rooney, Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial have been ruled out.

Rashford was said to be ill and was not among the players who travelled to London over the weekend.

Mourinho takes United to the west London club having lost October’s league fixture there 4-0.

Pogba played under Blues boss Antonio Conte at Juventus before returning to Old Trafford for a world-record fee of £89 million (S$152.7m).

Rooney is believed to have been involved in an accidental training ground collision with defender Phil Jones, while Martial will also miss the match through injury.

Asked whether he believes that the mind games can be distracting for players, Conte added: “The mind games, they are odd, no?”

Meanwhile Chelsea playmaker Eden Hazard has the trophy in his sights.

Chelsea and Manchester United face off on Monday night in the pick of the FA Cup quarterfinal ties.

“Sometimes I want to share my enthusiasm, my passion with my players, with my staff, also with the fans”.

Jose Mourinho says Antonio Conte’s Chelsea side will not be leading the Premier League table this season if he had led the Blues to European football.

As it happened, the switch contributed to one of the worst 45-minute periods in recent memory before the interval but United went on to win 3-1.

“Not only great talent, but players who run a lot during a game”.

“But they still had to go out and get the results and they’ve done that so you have still got to respect them for that”. They’ve played an astonishing 45 games already – most recently in Russian Federation on Thursday – have lifted the season’s first silverware when beating Southampton in the EFL Cup Final and remain fighting on three fronts.

Mourinho faces a “unique dilemma” says the Daily Mirror, with Henrikh Mkhitaryan or Marouane Fellaini now expected to start in a central role.

After making changes in earlier FA Cup rounds, Conte hinted he would select his first-choice line-up for the visit of United as Chelsea’s next game, at Stoke in the Premier League, is five days later.