Pre-match press conference: Shaw and van Persie miss out on derby but van Gaal is confident

Louis van Gaal has confirmed that both Robin van Persie and Luke Shaw will miss out on the Manchester derby on Sunday afternoon through injury.

Van Persie, 31, had declared himself fit ahead of the top four showdown but van Gaal says he has a different idea of 'fit' and will not select the Dutchman for Sunday's game.

Shaw will also miss out after a hamstring injury picked up in March had kept him out of training until this week. Both players trained with the rest of the first team squad this week but will not feature at all at Old Trafford.

Another absentee is Andreas Pereira who van Gaal has let out to play for Brazil's youth team instead of the possibility of sitting on the bench for the derby.

"Most of the players are fit but fit for me is a different situation," he said.

"I don't think every player is fit, for example Andreas Pereira has been invited by the Brazilian team and I have given him permission to go so he is not available.

"Van Persie is not fit enough to play, I don't think Luke Shaw is fit enough to play. But I cannot say they are not fit, but in my opinion they are not fit to play.

"When I'm very honest then I don't have injured players any more it's unbelievable but it's the first time I can say that this year."

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"When you are walking the streets of Manchester everybody is talking about the derby and also the players – the English players and also the Spanish players. They understand the meaning of a Manchester United victory over Manchester City. They know and I know it, so it’s very important.”

"It is better that you ask my wife because I’m not often in the city. I’m training, I go home and I prepare for the matches. I don't have time to visit the city so much. The only time I go is when I go to Mr. Wing’s restaurant.

"But when I’m there, the fans are talking about the derby and even when I come home my wife is saying things they have told her about this derby. The hairdresser of my wife is a Manchester City fan, so there is a lot of discussion between these two women and I like that because in football you play for the fans and I hope we can give our fans the victory.”

Manchester City travel the short distance from the Ethiad to Old Trafford in abysmal form for the English Champions. Since December, Manuel Pellegrini's side has picked up just 19 points from 13 League games. The Citizens were also knocked out of the Champions League by Barcelona a few weeks ago.

Yet van Gaal doesn't think City's form will affect the game on Sunday, "I am always confident because I always believe in my team and in our gameplan so there's not so much difference in that," he said.

"I know also a match between teams from the same city is always very special.

"But in spite of City having lost several games [recently] I don't think that shall have a big influence on the game because it is a special game and we have to show it and they do also.

Explaining what he meant, he added, "We have lost against Arsenal in the FA Cup and it was very disappointing for us but nevertheless we continued our [form] in the Premier League."