Jose Mourinho has said that his one focus is on ensuring that Tottenham Hotspur progress against Middlesbrough in their FA Cup third round replay.

The Premier League side were held to a 1-1 draw against Jonathan Woodgate's side in the original clash earlier this month - a game that Spurs were expected to win easily.

Tottenham are in the middle of a difficult run of results and while the focus for many is on strengthening in the transfer market, Mourinho insists that the clash with the Teessiders is his only priority.

Side-stepping a question about transfers, as quoted by Football London, Mourinho said: "The priority this month is to win tomorrow.

"Difficult match, Championship teams we know what they can do.

"We know what Fulham did to Villa, what Leeds almost did to Arsenal, what Middlesbrough did to us.

"Difficult match and in our situation we are in our limits and incredible effort against Liverpool two days ago and players brought a level of intensity in that game they are not used to because Liverpool is really, really strong at that level and the players gave absolutely everything and to imagine those people have to play tomorrow and then Saturday again is really hard."

He added: "For some reason it was so difficult the first game and that’s the priority.

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"After the game tomorrow, if we don’t qualify we forget FA Cup, if we qualify the priority is then the Premier League against Watford so for me there is no priority.

"If I am surprised then yeah a little bit. It was so many years ago.

"So many good teams that Tottenham had over the years but I also know that it is a very difficult competition to win because everybody wants to win it. It's a beautiful, beautiful competition to play, a beautiful final to play and to win and I think every top team tries to do it."

The verdict

Middlesbrough undoubtedly face a big test against Tottenham Hotspur, but the pressure is only on the home team.

The Teessiders have exceeded expectations by taking the tie to a replay, while Spurs will be hoping to mount a cup run with the view to securing a long-awaited trophy.

It's a free swing for Jonathan Woodgate's side that could work to their advantage.