Louis van Gaal has dismissed the notion that Manchester United should be embarrassed by Leicester City’s unlikely Premier League title charge – and instead said the Foxes’ “beautiful” achievement should be celebrated.

United’s derby match with Manchester City on Sunday is being billed in some quarters as a battle for fourth place, with Van Gaal’s side currently sixth and in danger of missing out on a Champions League spot for the second time in three seasons. The Dutchman refused to be drawn on City’s chances of failing to qualify for Europe’s elite competition but said Leicester’s meteoric rise reflected the strength of the Premier League rather than the weaknesses of its richest clubs.

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Van Gaal said Leicester’s success was not embarrassing to the richer clubs “because that is sport and that makes sport beautiful”. He added: “The money is not always dominating. It’s the quality of a team and Leicester is an example of a team that plays like a team. So you have to give a big compliment to the manager and his staff.

“The Premier League is a very strong league and the difference in levels is not so big any more. Anyone can win or lose against each other. That is the difference to the French League or the Dutch League. In the Spanish League you can lose to everybody, but maybe Barcelona is the exception.”

Anthony Martial’s performances since joining from Monaco in the summer have been one of the few plus points of another disappointing season for United, but Van Gaal said the 20-year-old was not the only reason to be cheerful. “[It is] not just Anthony Martial,” he said. “When I started we were out of everything and now we have played the Capital One Cup, we have played the Europa League, the Champions League – we have played many more matches than last year and we have coped with that despite a lot of injuries. And we are still capable of finishing in the first four.

“Now Sunday is a very important game for us because we are four points behind City. I think the team has had good matches but also bad matches and Martial has also played good matches and bad matches. He scores a lot, that I expect from him. But he can play every match at a certain level because other players cannot play at his level.”

Van Gaal said United had not suffered any more injuries in their 1-1 draw with Liverpool on Thursday, which resulted in Europa League elimination, but said he hoped the fact that City have had two extra rest days will not be a factor in the derby. “We played Thursday, then Sunday but we played against Arsenal and we had two days’ recovery and they had four or five,” he said. “Liverpool had one week free before Thursday’s game to rest, but we had to play West Ham, because we were in three competitions. That is also a difference, but we want to be in all the competitions. Champions League would be better than Europa League, but it makes it difficult to get the result. Now, City played on Tuesday like Arsenal, but we beat them. I hope we can also beat City and I think we have to do that.”