SUDDENLY, somehow, the FA Cup has become very magical indeed for Antonio Conte, Mauricio Pochettino and Jose Mourinho.

As Pep Guardiola basks in the glory of a double and Jurgen Klopp prepares Liverpool for Roma in the Champions League, his three rivals are finding the 147-year-old competition very attractive.

Chelsea, Tottenham and Manchester United all flopped at the last-16 stage in Europe’s Holy Grail.

They also failed miserably to mount any sort of serious title challenge to Guardiola’s league winners.

It won’t have gone unnoticed by the Italian, Argentinian and Portuguese how big a favour lifting the FA Cup did Arsene Wenger at Arsenal when he won it three times in the last four seasons.

Does anyone seriously think the Frenchman would still be boss of the Gunners without these triumphs?

For Conte, it looks like an FA Cup final victory on May 19 could be his parting gift to the Blues.

After his Premier League success in his first year, failure in the competition – for a man who won the title three times out of three seasons at Juventus, with two league and cup doubles as well – would be an unwelcome black mark on his impressive CV.

For Mourinho, no successes in a completed season would be a rarity – something, in fact, that has happened to him only once before since he was appointed boss of Porto in 2002.

That was in his final campaign at Real Madrid in 2012/13, which he described as the worst of his career. He lost in the Copa Del Rey final to Atletico, finished second in La Liga and made the last four of the Champions League.

Imagine what the high achiever would make of being KO’d in the semi-final by Tottenham tomorrow.

As for Pochettino, the lack of a trophy in his managerial career, which began with Espanyol in 2009, is something the 48-year-old will be acutely aware of.

Four Premier League Manager of the Month awards are as good as it has got.

So with these three top bosses all desperate for their Cup to runneth over, maybe it will be left to Pochettino’s former club, 20-1 outsiders Southampton – who face Chelsea on Sunday – to be the party poopers.

Maybe Mark Hughes and his men will do a Wigan by landing the trophy and then getting relegated from the top flight, leaving the three kings without a crown between them.