Manchester United vs. Arsenal: Louis van Gaal's Key Quotes from Pregame Presser

Winning the Premier League is out of reach this season due to Chelsea's dominance, but Manchester United still have a chance to ascend to third or perhaps even second place. Beating Arsenal on Sunday would go a long way toward accomplishing that feat, and manager Louis van Gaal spoke about that in his Friday press conference.  

The Red Devils will host the Gunners at Old Trafford, and they enter the contest two points behind Arsenal for third place in the table with two matches remaining in their season.

According to MUTV (via Manchester United's official Twitter account), the Dutch manager is focused on moving up in the standings despite the title already being decided:

United need all of the firepower they can possibly field in order to beat a strong Arsenal squad, and while they will have some in the form of Angel Di Maria and Robin van Persie, two key players will be out of action:

With Wayne Rooney and Luke Shaw on the shelf, there will be even more pressure on the likes of Di Maria and RVP to produce. Luckily for Van Gaal, the Red Devils are a deep team, which means they can still find enough production to compete with and possibly defeat a squad of Arsenal's caliber.

Van Gaal also looked ahead with regard to Shaw and suggested that the 19-year-old phenom should take a break from international play during the summer, per David McDonnell of the Daily Mirror:

In addition to Rooney and Shaw, neither Rafael nor Andreas Pereira will play, while Jonny Evans' status has yet to be determined:

That certainly lessens Van Gaal's options, but while all three of the aforementioned players are talented, they aren't necessarily key members of the squad who would have pushed United to victory anyway.

Aside from the Arsenal match, Van Gaal also took a broader look at Manchester United's season along with a look ahead to the offseason.

According to Chris Winterburn of Metro Sport, the boss admitted that not all of his decisions have worked out, but he isn't running away from them either:

In order to take the next step and perhaps vie for a league title in 2015-16, Van Gaal believes he needs to find the right combination of players, which is something he is still searching for:

Making a splash on the transfer market is one way to potentially shake up the synergy, but Van Gaal refused to comment on specific players, such as Real Madrid's Gareth Bale:

There is little doubt that the Red Devils are on the right track after last season's disappointing seventh-place finish. They are back among the EPL's elite teams, and they certainly have the financial backing and the commitment needed to continue making strides.

Finishing the 2014-15 campaign on a high note could go a long way toward generating momentum for 2015-16 as well. Sunday's match against Arsenal is essentially United's de facto championship game at this point, and a good result would solidify the Red Devils' return to prominence.

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