You BetPremier League bets of the weekend: Sunderland and Newcastle see chance to close in on Norwich in basement battle

The Manchester clubs have not lived up to expectations in the English Premier League but both still have hopes of silverware this season, with United favourites for the FA Cup as they take on Everton tomorrow on semi-finals weekend and City facing Real Madrid at home in their Champions League semi-final first leg on Tuesday night.

The FA Cup has been even more of a sideshow than usual this season, with so much interest in the Leicester City fairytale and Tottenham’s emergence as a major force, but for United and much-maligned coach Louis Van Gaal the competition has taken on great importance.

United have found better form in recent weeks, with only three defeats in their last 14 matches in all competitions since their away loss at Midtjylland in the Europa League in mid-February, and are pushing hard for Champions League qualification as well as FA Cup success.

It is probably no coincidence that the revival came with the elevation to the first team of Marcus Rashford, who announced himself with two goals on his debut in the return leg against Midtjylland and has started all 12 matches since then, scoring another five goals.

Rashford has helped bring the dynamism and directness that had been missing from United’s play, in partnership with others such as Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard, and their FA Cup quarter-final replay win at West Ham was arguably their performance of the season.

By contrast, opponents Everton have hit a rocky patch and their manager Roberto Martinez suddenly seems under more pressure than Van Gaal.

Apart from their victories in the last two rounds of the FA Cup – both meritorious, away to Bournemouth and home to Chelsea – Martinez’s side have won only one match in the past two months and that was against bottom club Aston Villa.