Guide To United's Four Competitions In 2017/18

Every day between now and the opening weekend of the 2017/18 Premier League season, we're looking ahead to the new term in our Countdown to Kick-off series.

Today, it's just 40 days until the return of top-flight football in England, and we're focusing on the four season-long competitions that Manchester United will enter once that campaign gets under way.

Scroll down to read about the trophies Jose Mourinho and his side will be competing for after the big kick-off in 2017/18, following the first chance of some silverware - the UEFA Super Cup clash against Real Madrid on 8 August...

PREMIER LEAGUE
This will be United's 118th season of league football, and 26th in the Premier League since its inception in 1992. Of course, we already know that the Reds' opening day opponents this time around will be West Ham, and the date for that fixture (as well as all of those to be shown on TV in August and September) will be confirmed on Monday 10 July. As always, there will be some fresh faces to look out for, both in terms of new signings and newly promoted clubs. United will face Brighton and Hove Albion, Huddersfield Town and Newcastle United during the coming campaign, and you can note down all the provisional key dates - including our clashes with Manchester City and Liverpool - by watching our fixtures video. Come the end of the season in May 2018, the aim will undoubtedly be a 21st top-flight title, one which would put Mourinho in the clear as the competition's second-most successful manager after Sir Alex Ferguson. Speaking of the end of the season, it's worth noting that United's final-day meeting with Watford at Old Trafford (scheduled for Sunday 13 May) will also be our 1000th game in the Premier League.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
If talk of United's return to Europe's top table doesn't whet your appetite for the 2017/18 campaign, nothing will! The Reds will once again take part in club football's premier competition after winning the UEFA Europa League in May and, as always, all eyes will be on the group-stage draw when it takes place on 24 August. Following the conclusion of the draw, fans will have just under three weeks to wait until matchday one, with Chelsea, Tottenham, Manchester City and, potentially, Liverpool the Premier League's other representatives. United have, of course, won the competition on three occasions and will hope to reach next year's final in Kiev, which falls on 26 May 2018, exactly 19 years after the Reds famously completed the Treble in Barcelona. This will be the first Champions League final to be held in Ukraine, but the 68,000-seater NSK Olimpiyskyi stadium is no stranger to big games, having hosted five games during the European Championship in 2012, including the final. 

EMIRATES FA CUP
The FA Cup represents another chance of silverware during the coming campaign. United will be participating in the competition for the 119th time, and will once again enter at the third-round stage, with matches scheduled for the weekend of 6 January 2018. Off the pitch, keep an eye out for video assistant referees, making their first appearance in the tournament from the third round onwards. On the pitch, should the Reds progress to the fourth round at the first time of asking, we will have won 250 games in the FA Cup from just 452 games, with last season's defeat to Chelsea our first in the competition since March 2015. Supporters will remember United's most recent FA Cup success, a 2-1 extra-time victory over Crystal Palace in 2016, taking our number of triumphs to 12. Arsenal's victory at Wembley in May put them one ahead of United, so a win for Mourinho's men in next year's final on 19 May 2018 would have some added meaning.

CARABAO CUP
The 2017/18 League Cup - now under the guise of the Carabao Cup - will kick off on 8 August 2017, though United's defence of the trophy will begin at a later date, again during the third round. Mourinho's men won the competition in dramatic fashion back in February, beating Southampton 3-2 at Wembley courtesy of Zlatan Ibrahimovic's late winner, going on to lift the trophy for a fifth time. This will be United's 51st entry into the competition, with our record so far making for impressive reading; the Reds have played 192 games in the League Cup, winning on 111 occasions and losing just 51 times. Mourinho notably became the first United manager to claim a major honour in his first season with the club when he lifted the League Cup last term. He said afterwards: "I wanted very much to win a major trophy with every club and, by doing that with Manchester United, it is quite a sense of relief. It was a big target for me to win a trophy with United but the reality is we want more."

Credit: Manutd.com