Arsene Wenger has tried to play down the significance of Arsenal’s 3-2 defeat at Manchester United, which left the Gunners five points behind Premier League leaders Leicester.
Teenage striker Marcus Rashford built on his midweek brace against FC Midtylland with the first two goals as his side put a huge dent in the Gunners’ title aspirations.
Ander Herrera claimed United’s third in between Danny Welbeck and Mesut Ozil’s response for the Gunners, but the hosts were worthy winners.
Arsenal have just two wins from their last five league games and are falling off the pace behind the Foxes and North London rivals Spurs, who won 2-1 at Swansea to move three points above Arsenal.
But Wenger insists defeat at Old Trafford, a stadium they haven’t won at since 2006, is no disaster, despite the Red Devils own indifferent season.
When asked how bad the loss was in relation to other failures at Old Trafford, Wenger said: “I don’t know. Let’s not go overboard. They had still a few millions on the pitch from De Gea to the midfield. They spent a lot on Depay, he is not a player from the academy.”
Arsenal’s next Premier League game is against Swansea on Wednesday at the Emirates Stadium before they take on Tottenham in what could be a season-defining derby at White Hart Lane on Saturday.
Wenger added: “We dropped three important points but we have to show we are up for the fight and bounce back on Wednesday night. We have to not feel sorry for ourselves. Mathematically, what it means, we will only know at the end of the season.”
Van Gaal paid tribute to Rashford, admitting he had surprised him by producing an even better performance than that which swept aside the Danes in midweek.
Van Gaal said: “I could imagine what he did in the first game because he is a striker so he is coming into the situation to score goals.
“The first match is always good because he can do the things that he thinks he wants to do, but in the second match he has to do what the manager wants him to do and he did it fantastically.
“Normally the first matches a debutant plays are good, but it is the consistency – he has to show it in the third, fourth, fifth match. But what he showed in his second match is special.”