An early own goal from Palace defender Damien Delaney was added to in the second half by Italy full-back Matteo Darmian as the two sides warmed up for their last-four tussles with contrasting results. They are now on 59 points with four games to go, one point behind fourth place Arsenal and have an excellent chance to qualify for next season’s Champions League.
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And Van Gaal is reluctant to interrupt Rashford’s rhythm by resting him against Palace – even with an FA Cup semi-final against Everton to come three days later.
“We have to work very hard to reach this level because we have a very full season”, said Van Gaal.
“We created a lot more chances so now we’ve got that good feeling going into Saturday”.
The Toffees have failed to win their last seven league matches, most recently suffering a 4-0 defeat in the Merseyside derby against Liverpool last night. “It is nice to see they are hungry to get the FA Cup, but still we have to beat Everton first”.
“It is too important to rotate for freshness for the semi-final”.
“I’m a little part of that, but also an important part because you need guts as a manager to do that”.
“He played about 75 minutes and I am building up his capacity in the matches”, Van Gaal said.
“He’s very positive”, Van Gaal said.
“But a trophy is of course fantastic, especially the FA Cup, as it is a lot of years that we didn’t win it”.
Tottenham’s Eric Dier in action with Manchester United’s Juan Mata.
Having battled to a 1-1 draw at Arsenal at the weekend and with a clash with Watford at Wembley coming up on Sunday, Pardew opted to rest a number of players at Old Trafford in what proved to be a wholly one-sided affair. As reported by Sky Sports the United manager believes that his side needs to win their final four games, which are at home to Leicester, away to Norwich, away to West Ham and at home to Bournemouth.
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Injuries to the likes of more experienced forwards Wayne Rooney and Anthony Martial, on top of a lack of options elsewhere, tempted Van Gaal into giving the academy product a run of games.
