Man United boss Louis van Gaal 'happy' for Darren Fletcher and Jonny Evans

Louis van Gaal is delighted that Darren Fletcher and Jonny Evans are enjoying regular first-team football at West Brom, although the latter will not be facing Manchester United at the Hawthorns on Sunday.

Fletcher, 32, made 342 appearances for United before moving to the Baggies last February, while Evans joined him in the West Midlands last summer.

Evans has a hamstring injury and sits out this weekend's game, but United boss Van Gaal admits he is looking forward to seeing them both again.

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"Jonny is a big loss for every team. I'm very sorry that he cannot play Sunday," said Van Gaal.

"I'd like to see him again and I'll also see my ex-captain Darren. I'm happy that Darren is playing so often, because that was our aim also when we spoke about his departure.

"It's not always easy to say things to the players about it being better for them to go, but when you see players like Jonny and Darren playing so regularly, it's good for players. I'm very happy for them."

United are on a run of four consecutive victories in all competitions but Van Gaal remains wary of the Baggies ahead of their meeting, live on Sky Sports.

"Of course, the atmosphere has been raised after a few wins so it is better but every opponent in the Premier League is difficult to beat and we have to beat West Bromwich Albion.

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"We're still points behind the top three and we have to close that gap. We have to be patient but we also need to move the ball more quickly.

"When you do that, you create more chances. We have to improve that against opponents like West Brom, because that is the only way you can score."

United go into Sunday's match on the back of a 1-0 victory at home to Watford during midweek when Juan Mata netted the winner seven minutes from time.

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The 27-year-old scored from a free-kick and acted as United's stand-in captain, with Van Gaal saying it was an easy decision to hand Mata the armband.

He added: "I have an elder group of players with whom I'm talking about aspects of things: training sessions, meetings or how we have to approach players and so on.

"Juan is a member of that group with the four captains: (Wayne) Rooney, (Michael) Carrick, (Chris) Smalling and (Bastian) Schweinsteiger as well, so it was an easy choice for me."