Louis van Gaal has praised his teams performance against Everton yesterday, labelling the 3-0 win as a “fantastic” response to their defeat at Arsenal.

Morgan Schneiderlin, Ander Herrera and Wayne Rooney all helped United to a comfortable win. Many believed that the Merseyside club would pose too much of a threat to United, and wrote off the Red Devils before the match. However, Everton never really showed up for the game, and found themselves dominated by United.

After the game, Van Gaal told Sky Sports: “I’m very proud of them because it was a difficult situation after the defeat at Arsenal – for two weeks I cannot approach them [due to the international break], then a lot of meetings, then this performance – fantastic.”

“We analysed Everton and chose the best solution, but all the credit goes to the players.”

Van Gaal gave a measured response to questions about United’s title chances but did say victory over City next week would be a real indicator they are in the race.

“This is only one match,” he said. “Also Arsenal is only one match and we don’t have to exaggerate.”

“We have to be more consistent so next week when we win against City – okay, then we can say anything about title aspirations. Of course we are always having the target to be champions. but it has to be also real, and it’s too early to talk about that.”

Wayne Rooney’s goal, his first away goal in 11 months, took him to joint-second on the all-time list of Premier League scorers.

Van Gaal said: “It doesn’t matter who is scoring, we have to score like a team and when we score three I’m happy, but because of the attention on Wayne I’m very happy he scored his goal.”

“I believe he scored his last goal here in 2007 or something. That’s crazy, but I think he shall score more.”

“When I have to mention one name, I have to mention Ander Herrera,” he said. “He played very well and had a great contribution with the goals.”

[All quotes via Sky Sports]