Louis van Gaal worried December injury crisis will cost Man Utd come end of season

Louis van Gaal insists Manchester United's pursuit of the Premier League title is back on but he is worried that December's injury crisis will cost them dearly in the end.

United have won three of their five league games since 2016 began, but they remain five points behind fourth-placed Arsenal and 10 short of league leaders Leicester.

Live Ford Super Sunday

Van Gaal says the club have been buoyed by the recent returns of several first-team players from injury, including right-back Matteo Darmian and midfielder Michael Carrick.

And he can now admit in hindsight that his options were "below the level" they required, and results at the end of the calendar year 2015 suffered.

"In certain positions, our occupation was below level. But I never said that, because I don't want to hide behind the injuries," Van Gaal said.

"But when you have five or six players (out) for every position, you cannot hide anymore. You have to solve problems that you cannot solve, and we had that in December.

"You have to analyse the situation at the time. I cannot prevent contact injuries, and we were very unlucky with contact injuries. We don't have muscle injuries. That's unbelievable.

"When you don't have full-backs any more, it is very difficult because - in our system - they are always in attack. That's why we played Ashley Young as an attacking full-back.

"Now the players are coming back, and are fit again, so I can continue how we started the season. We were first, if you remember. The competition is not yet finished.

"But I am worried that period in December could ultimately cost us."

Van Gaal also suggested that left-back Luke Shaw, who broke his leg and was ruled out for nine months in September, could return before the end of the season, in what would be another huge lift to United and England ahead of the European Championships.

He said: "Luke Shaw can play in the final (matches), and I've said that to him. It's a goal for him, that he has to live for, and it is possible.

"There has been a positive atmosphere. It is always better when you win, certainly when it is in a row with a very good performance and three goals in a match. That shall give a big boost to the players. You can see that also in the training sessions."