Louis van Gaal plays mind games ahead of derby clash with Manchester City

LOUIS VAN GAAL has warned Manchester City they will be facing a transformed team in the derby at Old Trafford on Sunday.

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He says his United side bears no resemblance to the unbalanced and vulnerable outfit who lost at the Etihad in early November to complete the club's worst 10-game start to a season since Ron Atkinson was sacked back in the autumn of 1986.

Since then United have taken 49 points out of a possible 62 and for the first time since Sir Alex Ferguson retired nearly two years ago they are ahead of their neighbours in the Premier League table.

The transformation is not so much about changing personnel but more about the team's balance, confidence and momentum with Van Gaal's well-documented "philosophy" finally appearing to have a positive influence on his players ahead of the key back-to-back clashes with City and Chelsea.

"It was another Manchester United back then I believe," he said. "Now we have developed as a team. We were at the start of the process then but now we are at the end of the process. The confidence of the players is high and our performances show that it is not the same Manchester United.

"We lost to City 1-0 and drew with Chelsea 1-1 earlier in the season so we were very close to them then but we are playing better now than at the beginning of the season and I have a lot of confidence for these matches."

Van Gaal PellegriniGETTY

Louis van Gaal has issued a warning to Manchester City ahead of the derby

It was a great day, one of the best in my professional career

Ander Herrera

Van Gaal indulged in some mind games by suggesting United's charge has piled the pressure on their faltering neighbours who will be jolted by suddenly finding themselves fourth in the table ahead of tonight's (Mon) visit to Crystal Palace having been in the top two since the end of November.

"Of course, our winning run plays a part in the spirit of our opponents," he added. "It will be sitting on their minds. When you are on a winning run like we are, you send out a little bit of fear. It is not just that we have won five in a row but we have lost only two out of the last 21."

One of the players most transformed is Ander Herrera who was in and out of the team in the first half of the season but has now played eight games in a row and is beginning to look the answer to United's need for a box-to-box goalscoring midfielder.

United legend Bryan Robson has already remarked that he likes Herrera's energy and tenacity and, like Robson, Herrera underlined in the win over Aston Villa that he has an eye for goal with two smartly-taken finishes that took his tally to the season to seven.

"It was a great day, one of the best in my professional career," said Herrera, who has developed an instinctive partnership with fellow Spaniard Juan Mata.

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"It's the first time I have scored twice in my professional career, so of course I am very happy, but I want to keep scoring more to help the team because the chase for the top four is not over yet."

Herrera's double sandwiched a superb strike from Wayne Rooney, set up by Angel Di Maria's 10th assist of the season, but Van Gaal was not happy that having established a 2-0 lead his side allowed Christian Benteke to pull one back with a shot that David De Gea allowed to slip under his body, a rare mistake in a superb season by the United goalkeeper.

Tim Sherwood was encouraged by Villa's determined performance ahead of their "six-pointer" against fellow strugglers QPR at Villa Park tomorrow (Tues). They were in the game until Herrera's second goal in added time finally killed them off.

He said: "It's a massive game irrespective of what QPR did at West Brom. It was a great result for them but we are aiming to be six points clear of them by the end of Tuesday's game."

Man Utd (4-3-3): De Gea 6; Valencia 7, Jones 7, Rojo 7, Blind 7; Herrera 9, Carrick 7, Fellaini 7 (Falcao 77); Mata 7, Rooney 8, Young 7 (Di Maria, 70, 6). Goals: Herrera 43, 90; Rooney 79. NEXT UP: Man City (h) Saturday, PL.

Aston Villa (4-4-2): Guzan 7; Hutton 5 (Bacuna 46, 5), Okore 6, Clark 6, Lowton 6; N'Zogbia 5 (Baker 61, 5), Sanchez 6, Delph 7, Weimann 6 (Cole 77); Benteke 6, Agbonlahor 5. Booked: Delph. Goal: Benteke 80. NEXT UP: QPR (h) tomorrow, PL.

Referee: R East (Wiltshire).

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