Preston North End 0-2 Brighton & Hove Albion: Seagulls set up Man Utd tie

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Alexis Mac AllisterGetty Images

Alexis Mac Allister's two goals in English football have come in the past week

Alireza Jahanbakhsh and Alexis Mac Allister scored their second Carabao Cup goals in a week as Brighton beat Preston to set up a fourth-round tie with Manchester United.

The Seagulls will host Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's United next week.

Iranian Jahanbakhsh scored a sweet first-time shot on the bounce from Bernardo's cross.

And Argentine Mac Allister slotted home from Pascal Gross' cutback to seal the victory.

The pair both scored in their 4-0 win over Portsmouth in the second round last Thursday. That was Mac Allister's first goal for the club and Jahanbakhsh's first since January.

Despite making 11 changes from the weekend's 3-0 win over Newcastle, Brighton deserved their win and created the majority of chances at Deepdale.

Gross went close with a long-range free-kick, and Connor Ripley denied Jahanbakhsh in the first half.

Preston - who have won one game so far this season - did have the best chance outside the goals with Patrick Bauer's header hitting the bar.

That chance came from a corner which was a result of a fine Jason Steele save to deny Jayden Stockley.

Brighton's next two games are at home to United - on Saturday in the Premier League and then next week in the cup.

Boss Graham Potter says he will name a similar side to this one for that cup match.

"They've earned that right," he said. "They played well, they've shown character, personality and quality and I'm delighted with them.

"We go into a game on Saturday, that's where our focus is. We'll see how that goes and try to prepare as well as we can and put on a good performance against a side that finished in the Champions League places.

"It's exciting, whether we play Saturday-Tuesday or Saturday-Wednesday, we'll look forward to that first game and then see what happens."

Preston assistant Frankie McAvoy said: "The first half was a good competitive game.

"The first goal changed the game and we huffed and puffed after that.

"Obviously the manager's tried to bring on more legs and go higher up the pitch but the second goal killed it for us."

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