Louis van Gaal: 'Anthony Martial miss changed game'

Louis van Gaal has insisted that Manchester United could have collected something from their trip to Tottenham Hotspur earlier today had Anthony Martial converted his second-half opportunity.

With the scoreline locked at 0-0, United's French attacker beat three Spurs defenders on his way into the penalty area, only to then fire a shot straight at Hugo Lloris in the home side's net.

Soon after, goals from Dele Alli, Toby Alderweireld and Erik Lamela within the space of six minutes earned Tottenham a 3-0 victory to keep their Premier League title hopes alive.

However, Van Gaal has stressed that it could have been a much different outcome if Martial had gotten the better of his fellow countryman.

"Until the first goal we were at least the equal team. The better chance was for us with Anthony Martial, a big chance," he told Sky Sports News.

"We give the first goal away, a miscommunication and then in five minutes we were out of the game.

"Tottenham is a great team, I said that in advance of this match. But at 0-0 we were playing well and had a big chance. 3-0 is a big negative result but until we conceded it was good."

The defeat has left the Red Devils fifth in the table, four points adrift of rivals Manchester City in fourth spot.