Rashford arrived as a second-half sub, with the Cobblers holding their famous visitors at 1-1 in Wednesday’s EFL Cup third round tie, but soon teed up Ander Herrera’s thumping strike then capitalised on an almighty clanger from Smith to seal victory with United’s third.
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Of course, United and City met at the Theatre of Dreams earlier this month and the Blues triumphed 2-1 on that occasion.
Jose Mourinho admitted Manchester United made life hard for themselves against Northampton Town in the EFL Cup – but praised his players for their second-half display in the 3-1 victory at Sixfields.
A weird Northampton pass-back from beyond the half way line gifted Michael Carrick’s 17th minute strike from just outside the box as United then appeared to head into cruise control.
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.
Northampton have only lost one league match in the last 32 and levelled shortly before the break as Revell rolled home a penalty after a clumsy Daley Blind challenge on Sam Hoskins. Smith made to kick it and found fresh air, allowing Rashford to nip in behind him, seize it and walk it into the net.
Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola have proven yet again, he is the best coach in world football. “It’s not easy for us to play games like this, especially after the draw in the first half but we dominated the second half”.
Swansea’s Gylfi Sigurdsson grabbed a consolation deep into stoppage time.
In the round’s other stand-out ties, Tottenham Hotspur were handed a trip to Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool, while Chelsea were drawn to face London rivals West Ham United.
Tottenham cruised through after crushing League One Gillingham, with Christian Eriksen scoring twice and Vincent Janssen and Josh Onomah scoring their first goals for the club.
Arsenal host Reading while Hull travel to the south west to face Bristol City and there is an all-Premier League clash between Southampton and Sunderland.
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Southampton beat Crystal Palace 2-0, Jake Hesketh adding to Charlie Austin’s penalty, while Paddy McNair’s brace earned Sunderland a 2-1 win after QPR had led through Sandro.
