Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal hailed his side’s imposing 2-1 victory over Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium, despite his squad lacking depth as a result of an extensive injury list.

Of course, it is the first away victory so the players were very excited in the dressing room but, okay, it is only one victory.

With injuries forcing the Dutchman to deploy a 3-4-1-2 formation, the initial tactic used by the manager when he took charge of the Red Devils that caused some controversy being fans, a Kieran Gibbs own goal early in the second half was supplemented by Wayne Rooney’s remarkable chip. Despite Olivier Giroud’s spark of a comeback into injury time, van Gaal’s side clinched all three points in North London, before commenting:

“It was a fantastic result. We had a lot of injuries and in spite of that we have won. In an away match, it is very difficult. Arsenal are a very good team, an attacking team and that I knew in advance.

“That is why I chose this strategy and at the end I can laugh, but at the same time, you can imagine that if Arsenal could have scored one of the four or five chances in the first half then maybe this would have been another game.”

With three points seeing Manchester United sit among the European qualification positions, while their Premier League opponents fell to eighth, van Gaal will feel a mass of relief after some began to criticise his management ability, as whispers of a departure slowly emerged.

However, the 63-year-old has remained restrained when questioned whether the Manchester giants have finally found the turning point in their season in his post-match interview. He added:

“We have to wait and see. Of course, it is the first away victory so the players were very excited in the dressing room but, okay, it is only one victory. We have to confirm that with victories in the next two games that we play at home. Then we can say, okay, we have the spirit now and we will go looking at upstairs and not downstairs.”

Manchester United will next entertain Hull City on Saturday 29th November, in which van Gaal could climb within just two points of Manuel Pellegrini’s struggling Manchester City.