United drawn against City in League Cup showdown
SPURS WIN A TRIP TO LIVERPOOL AFTER CRUSHING GILLINGHAM
anchester United manager Jose Mourinho and his Manchester City rival Pep Guardiola were dealt an English Football League Cup rendezvous after both teams came through their third-round ties on Wednesday.
United won 3-1 at third-tier Northampton Town to ease some of the pressure building on Mourinho following three consecutive defeats, while holders City prevailed 2-1 at Swansea City.
Tottenham Hotspur were rewarded with a trip to Liverpool after crushing Gillingham 5-0 and West Ham United will face Chelsea after scraping past fourth-tier Accrington Stanley.
“We deserved to win,” Mourinho told Sky Sports after goals from Michael Carrick, Ander Herrera and substitute Marcus Rashford took his side into the fourth round.
United’s victory was a welcome tonic for Mourinho and his team following consecutive losses to Manchester City, Feyenoord and Watford.
He made nine changes to the side beaten 3-1 at Watford on Sunday, with Chris Smalling and captain Wayne Rooney the only players to keep their places.
Rooney started up front, for the first time since last season, and squandered an early opportunity by miscuing from Ashley Young’s cross.
United went ahead in the 17th minute after Northampton goalkeeper Adam Smith was penalised for picking up a back-pass. Rooney’s shot from the ensuing free-kick hit the wall, but Carrick swept the rebound into the top-left corner from the edge of the box.
Rooney then saw a goal ruled out for offside, but Northampton gave United a scare when Kenji Gorre clipped the bar in the 38th minute and within four minutes the home side were level. After Marcos Rojo, Timothy Fosu-Mensah and Morgan Schneiderlin all spurned chances to clear, Daley Blind tripped Sam Hoskins and Alex Revell stroked the resulting penalty past Sergio Romero.
Mourinho waited only 10 minutes in the second half before turning to the bench, with Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Rashford replacing Fosu-Mensah and Depay.
Herrera gave Northampton a warning with a left-foot shot that struck the post and in the 68th minute he restored United’s lead, slamming home right-footed from Rashford’s layoff. Another Smith error allowed United to seal victory, the goalkeeper hesitating as a long ball bounced towards him, which allowed Rashford to steal in and lash the ball into the vacant goal.
Premier League pacesetters Manchester City made it nine wins from nine games under Guardiola with victory at Swansea. City enjoyed the best of the first half, but it took until four minutes into the second half for Gael Clichy to put them ahead with a deflected shot.
Aleix Garcia made the most of a rare start by netting the second from Jesus Navas’s cutback in the 67th minute before Gylfi Sigurdsson stabbed in an injury time consolation for Swansea.