Manchester United boss Louis van Gaal accepts there can be no excuses for his team to falter in 2015. Having spent £150million on star names like Angel di Maria, Falcao, Daley Blind and Marcos Rojo in the summer and six months in which to impose his philosophy on the club, van Gaal thinks overtaking Chelsea and Manchester City has to be the target.

"2014 was very exciting for me and my players. I hope we can continue and for the fans we are number one in the league at the end of this year," he proclaimed.

"You always want that perfect game as a manager and so we need to improve the process and our performances. You saw at Stoke we didn't play the perfect game, we started very badly and lost two points away. We have to improve that because otherwise you can not be champions."