Manchester United’s Van Gaal blasts EPL’s ‘evil’ schedule

(CNN)Manchester City returned to the top of the English Premier League after a drab goalless derby which had spectators heading for the Old Trafford exits long before the finish of Sunday’s much anticipated clash.

Before conspiracy theorists translate Pellegrini’s words into a swipe at rival and arch-realist Jose Mourinho or indeed United’s rather more conservative Van Gaal, it is important to understand that this was not the context. I know what we can do and where we can go.

Martial will have another chance to impress when United face cross-town rivals City in the Manchester derby on Sunday.

The point moves City back to the top of the Premier League standings. They scored a late victor to take all three points against Sevilla in the Champions League in midweek, thanks again to Kevin De Bruyne.

When asked if United could prove they were genuine title contenders with a win, Van Gaal said: “I don’t think that is now a big question”.

Allardyce, who briefly played for Sunderland in the early 1980s and managed Newcastle for eight months eight years ago, has a huge task ahead saving the bottom club from relegation.

How is Chelsea? We have talked a lot lately about Mourinho’s problems with his staff and then not starting his superstar Hazard.

United suffered a painful 3-0 defeat against Arsenal before the worldwide break with the Gunners killing off the game in a stunning 20-minute opening salvo.

“We’ve done everything to help the recovery of the players”.

The Dutchman disclosed that Schweinsteiger had to come off because the team were in need of more pace as they were too slow in the first half and he wanted to switch tactics to a more pressing game.

“Has Van Gaal learnt?”

“For me it’s the best way to do it. It’s best for the club, the fans, the league”.

Regardless of the league positions of these two sides, the Manchester derby always manages to be one of the most entertaining fixtures on the calendar. “If you can compete (with City) we have to wait and see”, he said. “You get frustrated when you lose a derby like that, but now we have another chance to show how good we are”. “There is a goals difference, a points difference so they are the favourites, I think”. Maybe with Nasri, Silva, Aguero and Delph we can maybe have another option to start and another option to make the substitute to win the game.

Van Gaal stressed he was not using the incident as an excuse for his team’s failure to win a second successive derby game.