Manchester 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 Wednesday. United won 3-1 at third-tier Northampton Town to ease some of the pressure building on Mourinho following three consecutive defeats, while holder City prevailed 2-1 at Swansea City. Tottenham Hotspur was 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 1-0. Mourinho, who felt that Northampton's Jak McCourt should have been sent off for a rash challenge on Memphis Depay, did not attend his post-match press conference. Charlie Austin and Jake Hesketh were on target for Southampton as it beat Crystal Palace 2-0 in an all-Premier League tie while Sunderland's Paddy McNair scored twice in a 2-1 win over Championship side Queens Park Rangers. Hull City booked its spot in the next round after coming from behind to beat struggling Stoke City 2-1 thanks to a stoppage-time winner from Markus Henriksen. Bristol City beat Fulham 2-1. Southampton, Sunderland and Hull City also secured places in the last 16. Balotelli puts Nice atop Controversial star Mario Balotelli continued his fine start to life on the French Riviera by helping fire Nice to the top of Ligue 1 on Wednesday. The Italy international scored his second brace in as many league appearances for Nice in a 4-0 thumping of local rival Monaco to leap-frog champion Paris Saint-Germain at the top of the table. The defeat dropped Monaco to third, level on points with PSG and a point behind Nice. Bordeaux is fourth after romping to a 3-0 win at Metz with goals from Malcolm, Gaetan Laborde and Isaac Kiese Thelin. Lyon climbed to seventh as Nabil Fekir and Corentin Tolisso scored a brace each in a 5-1 thrashing of Montpellier. Juventus goes top Champion Juventus returned to the top of Serie A with a 4-0 home rout of Cagliari Wednesday, while former leaderNapoli dropped to second after being held to a goalless draw at Genoa. First-half efforts from Daniele Rugani, Gonzalo Higuain and Dani Alves and a late own goal from Luca Ceppitelli helped Juve ease to its fourth win of the season and up to 12 points, one ahead of Napoli on 11. Inter Milan beat Empoli 2-0 away after a first-half double from Mauro Icardi to go fifth on 10 points, while Roma jumped to third, also on 10, after thrashing Crotone 4-0. — Agencies
