Van Gaal impressed by youthful Manchester United

Urogol states that Manchester United defender Guillermo Varela requested to leave the club in January due to a lack of first-team opportunities but was persuaded to stay by his manager. I give them 20 minutes and then 50 minutes and 70 minutes and I have to do that within Premier League matches. We didn't give too many chances away in the second half, were well-organised, but it's hard to create chances with 10 against 11.

"United will look after him - so everything is stacked in his favour". Mata deserved to be sent off, no United fan is questioning that at all, and it really doesn't matter what he did previously, what does matter is the fact both yellow cards were justified.

Pulis and van Gaal will lock horns when West Brom host United in the 4pm kick off on Sunday.

Van Gaal said. "I have asked him if it's his first red card and he said yes".

"I think always this match has an influence on the next match so it is, for us, very bad", Van Gaal said.

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The ESPN FC boys assess which team has the better squad, Tottenham or Arsenal, and deliver their predictions for the weekend. In footballing terms, Spurs absolutely played Swansea off the park on Sunday, taking 34 shots with 14 of them on target.

But despite Mata's recklessness with the challenge on Fletcher, Van Gaal refused to condemn the Spaniard.

A revitalised United moved level on points with Manchester City in fourth and 10 points behind league leaders Leicester City after the 1-0 win over Watford on Wednesday, their fourth consecutive victory.

The influx of young players has been made necessary by the fact that United, at one stage, had 14 players out injured; however, those concerns are easing. Today's Premier League match at West Bromwich Albion will be United's 44th match of the campaign; as many as they played throughout the whole of last season. I'm not saying they're going to win the league but they are thereabouts now and if anybody can put a run together they're probably going to go on and do it.

"It's not always easy to say things to the players about it being better for them to go, but when you see players like Jonny and Darren playing so regularly, it's good for players".

Thrown into the starting line-up against FC Midtjylland after the French striker felt a hamstring problem before last week's Europa League tie, the 18-year-old blossomed under the Old Trafford floodlights.