Jose Mourinho drawn against Manchester City in the EFL Cup last 16

Britain Football Soccer - Northampton Town v Manchester United - EFL Cup Third Round - Sixfields Stadium - 21/9/16 Manchester United's Zlatan Ibrahimovic in action with Northampton Town's Zander Diamond and Gabriel Zakuani Action Images via Reuters / John Sibley Livepic

Jose Mourinho was handed a nightmare draw against his old nemesis Pep Guardiola – with another Manchester derby collision in the EFL Cup last 16.

Mourinho’s Man United ended a run of three straight defeats as goals from Michael Carrick, Ander Herrera and Marcus Rashford earned a 3-1 victory at League One Northampton, while Cup holders City won 2-1 at Swansea.

And Herrera declared he can’t wait for a chance to avenge the derby defeat at Old Trafford earlier this month.

He said: “We can show again what we want to do.

"Two weeks ago we were very disappointed, because we lost in front of our fans against our city opponents.

“Now we have a chance to play against them, and I am sure it will be different.

“Our fans are always behind us. Even tonight, in midweek against a League One team, they were there for us, so we have no doubt.

“If we want to win the competition, we will have to beat the best teams.

“But after a terrible week we can now face [a home game against champions] Leicester in a better way.

"It’s not easy for us to play games like this, but we dominated the second half.”

Boss Mourinho skulked away after only a brief TV interview and wouldn’t speak after hearing United had drawn City.

He could only moan about another refereeing decision, claiming Stuart Attwell should have sent off Jak McCourt for a heavy challenge on Memphis Depay.

Mourinho said of the game: “It was difficult, as I was expecting, but we looked to be in control for the first 35 minutes and then we looked to be in control for the last 45.

“The game should be easier — we should have been playing against 10 men very early in the second half. Northampton fought and they tried to cause us problems which sometimes they did but it was a positive performance overall.

“I should stop speaking about refereeing decisions but it is a red card that could cause some serious injury but I should just stop.”

He later spoke to MUTV, saying he understood the recent frustration of fans but hit out at his critics after a "bad week".

“We have three home matches now in a row and it is always good to be at home," he said.

"If the fans have been disappointed with the last week, I understand completely but I am sure they will be behind the team like they always are.

“We had a bad week. I know that the world is full of Einsteins, I know that they tried to delete 16 years of my career, they tried to delete an unbelievable history of Manchester United Football Club and to focus on a bad week with three bad results. But that’s the new football, it’s full of Einsteins.”

United profited from two clangers by keeper Adam Smith – who picked up a back-pass in the build-up to Carrick’s opener, then suffered a brainstorm as Rashford netted the third.

As skipper Wayne Rooney struggled badly up front, before being moved to the right flank after the introductions of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Rashford, the midfield duo of Carrick and Herrera pressed their claims for Premier League starting places.

But Carrick said: “I’m not going to change my game and Jose knows my strengths, you play some games you miss some games.

"People need to calm down over the squad changes - we’re all in it together.”