Louis van Gaal: There isn't 'a lot of distance' between Tottenham and Manchester United

Mind the gap: Van Gaal does not believe his side are far behind Tottenham
Ian Walton/Getty Images
Sam Long20 April 2016

Louis van Gaal believes there is little difference between his Manchester United side and title-chasing Tottenham.

The Red Devils currently occupy fifth place and are four points outside of the Champions League places ahead of tonight's clash with Crystal Palace.

Spurs, meanwhile, are flying high in second and cut Leicester's lead at the top of of the table to just five points with an emphatic 4-0 win at Stoke on Monday.

Mauricio Pochettino's side lost at Old Trafford on the opening day of the season but blew United away courtesy of a 3-0 scoreline on home turf 10 days ago.

Tottenham's title run-in: game by game

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But van Gaal is adamant there is little to choose between the two sides: "We have beaten Tottenham 1-0 and until the 70th minute I think we were the better team but then there was a mis-communication," he insisted.

"So, I don't think there is a lot of distance between Tottenham and Manchester United, but the distance is in points.

"They have won more, they are scoring more and that's because they have more creative players."

Van Gaal has spent over £200m on new players during his spell in charge at United but believes the failure to land a creative player has cost his side this season.

"In my opinion I don't have a senior creative player but I have said that in advance and everybody knows that," he added.

United face Everton in an FA Cup semi-final this weekend but, such is the pressure to secure a top-four finish, Van Gaal has hinted he will still field his strongest team against Palace this evening.

"This game against Crystal Palace is very important," the Dutchman said. "We have to win, we need to win, otherwise we cannot close the gap.

"It is too important to rotate for freshness for the semi-final."

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