Manchester United vs Manchester City: Louis van Gaal says Manuel Pellegrini's side are favourites for the derby

The Dutch manager is, however, still confident of his side's chances against their city rivals

Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal (Getty Images)

The Manchester United manager, Louis van Gaal, has made the remarkable claim that his side’s local neighbours are the favourites to win tomorrow’s Old Trafford derby, declaring that his players will need to finish ahead of Manchester City this season before claiming to have narrowed the quality gap.

Not since Sir Alex Ferguson’s valedictory title-winning season in 2012-13 have United been able to hold a candle to City, who were 22 points better than them in their title-winning campaign of two seasons ago and boasted a nine-point, two-place superiority last season.

Van Gaal, whose side will move ahead of City with victory tomorrow, said: “It’s not important who is the favourite. [But] when you look at the facts, they are first and we are third. They are first so they are the favourites I think.”

Van Gaal’s predecessor David Moyes described Liverpool as “favourites” before the Merseyside club’s 3-0 win at United last year, leading the then Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers to say he had been surprised. “I would never say that at Liverpool – even if I was bottom of the league,” Rodgers remarked.

Though the Dutchman genuinely considers such semantics to be a superficial irrelevance, the mere assertion that City will arrive at Old Trafford as favourites says much about size of the 64-year-old’s task in rediscovering lost pride in the city. United have won only three of the past 10 Premier League Manchester derbies and have lost three of the last five at home.

When asked if United had narrowed the gap on City during his season and a quarter in charge, Van Gaal avoided the question. “I’m happy that we are more balanced in our selection,” he said. “Whether we can compete? We have to wait and see. When you compare [us] to City, we are two points behind. We have to see if we can develop as a team. We have new players. We have more young players than last year. We have to develop and we can only say at the end of the season if we have minimised the gap.”

The City manager, Manuel Pellegrini, rejected Van Gaal’s suggestion that City had an edge because of the greater exertions of United’s midweek trip to CSKA Moscow, while City played at home. “I don’t think we have an advantage. Maybe if the derby was tomorrow [Saturday] and not Sunday it would be a small advantage, but I don’t think United will have any problem to recover.”

He also denied “punishing” Vincent Kompany, who is in strong contention to return after two weeks as substitute, for playing 57 minutes of Belgium’s win over Israel despite missing the previous five City games with a calf strain.

Van Gaal, who is without Ashley Young but can call upon Ander Herrera despite the knock he got in Moscow, said that while Anthony Martial’s performances had been in line with United’s expectations, his consistency had “surprised” him. “He is looking for his own style,” Van Gaal said. “That’s the reason that youngsters are not normally consistent. That’s why I have asked for time [for Martial to adapt at United.] But up to now, Anthony has shown good consistency.”

Pellegrini also defended the right of City fans to boo the Uefa anthem, in the face of the governing body considering charging the club with a breach of its regulations. The Chilean said: “Everyone has the right to express what they feel, with order, with respect. I don’t know why Uefa thinks this about our fans, but it’s exactly the same for the manager or the players or the referee. They pay for their ticket and with respect they can express what they feel.”