City are without first-team stars Sergio Aguero and David Silva for the match against Manchester United this weekend.
But United manager Van Gaal, who had to endure a 3,200-mile round trip to Moscow in midweek, thinks his team are underdogs for the 170th meeting between the two sides.
The Dutchman said: "When you look at the facts they are first (in the league) so they are favourites, I think."
Van Gaal will not use United's eight-hour round trip to Moscow - while City stayed at home to play Sevilla - as an excuse, but there is certainly a feeling that the trip east has given the hosts a slight disadvantage.
To help matters, Van Gaal put his players through a session in the team hotel in Moscow the day after the game and then brought them to Carrington after they landed.
He said: "I hope that we have recovered.
"We have done everything to help the recovery for the players.
"We did it already in the hotel. We stayed in the hotel the next day, we had a smooth flight, after the flight we came to the AON Training Complex for recovery, we didn't train too much today.
"We have to afford and we have to recover.
"It's still a match at a high level and a big travel and we know that in advance and we have done that."
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