Get ready for Jose Mourinho vs. Pep Guardiola, part II.
Manchester United ended a run of three straight losses by capitalizing on two goalkeeper mistakes to beat third-tier Northampton 3-1 in the third round of the league Cup on Wednesday.
The reward wasn't kind for United: A match against Manchester City in the last 16 next month and a renewal of the Mourinho-Guardiola rivalry that has been transferred from Spain to the north of England this season.
While Guardiola's City was winning its ninth successive game of the season by beating Swansea 2-1 away, United labored again and needed a helping hand from Northampton's error-prone goalkeeper and its strong bench to end the first blip of Mourinho's tenure.
Northampton goalkeeper Adam Smith was penalized for picking up a back pass and United scored from the resulting free kick, Michael Carrick lashing home a shot after Wayne Rooney's attempt was blocked. United was pegged back by a penalty and then took the lead against through Ander Herrera in the 68th minute before Smith dallied over a clearance and was dispossessed by Marcus Rashford, who scored into an empty net.
Rooney was one of the few regulars to start for United and was handed a rare chance to lead the attack in the absence of Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Rooney missed a good early chance and finished the game on the right wing after Ibrahimovic and Rashford were thrown on by Mourinho, with United drawing 1-1 at that stage.
Struggling West Ham required a free kick by Dimitri Payet six minutes into injury time to overcome the lowest-ranked team, Accrington, left in the competition. The France midfielder curled his shot over the wall and into the net, earning his team a home match against london rival Chelsea.
Vincent Janssen scored his first goal for Tottenham and Christian Eriksen netted twice in a 5-0 win for Spurs against the third-tier visitors.