( CNN ) -- A Wayne Rooney inspired Manchester United beat arch-rivals Arsenal 2-0 at Old Trafford Saturday to reach the semifinals of the English FA Cup . Rooney was involved in the brilliant build-up to United 's opener for Fabio da Silva in the 28th minute and scored early in the second half to clinch his side 's passage . The victory leaves the Red Devils on course for the domestic double , topping the English Premier League despite successive defeats to Chelsea and Liverpool and favorites to land the oldest cup competition in the world . They play Marseille on Tuesday bidding to reach the last eight of the Champions League with the first leg drawn 0-0 . Earlier , United 's north-west neighbors Bolton won 3-2 at Birmingham to make the last four . Lee Chung-Yong headed a 90th winner after Owen Coyle 's side had been pegged back to 2-2 by a late equalizer from veteran home striker Kevin Phillips . Bolton had taken the lead through Johan Elmander 's fine finish in the 21st minute before Cameron Jerome scored Birmingham 's first equalizer in the 38th minute . Kevin Davies converted a 66th-minute penalty to put Bolton ahead again only for Phillips to strike in the 80th minute . Birmingham were looking for the domestic cup double after beating Arsenal in the League Cup final two weeks ago . That Wembley defeat was the start of a difficult spell for Arsenal , who were beaten by Barcelona in midweek to end their Champions League hopes . United also went into the heavyweight cup clash on a poor run and Ferguson responded by making several changes and including seven defensive players in his line-up . But it paid off and one of them , Fabio , was on hand to knock home the loose ball after a Javier Hernandez header from a Wayne Rooney cross was only parried out by Manuel Almunia . Rooney 's goal in the 49th minute gave them a two-goal cushion which was needed as Edwin van der Sar made a series of excellent stops to deny Arsenal a route back into the tie . Substitute Paul Scholes played a sublime pass to hand Rooney a great chance for a second in injury time , which he spurned , but was fortunate to stay on the field after receiving a yellow card and then tangling with Samir Nasri in an ugly incident . Dutch veteran van der Sar was delighted by the victory in his farewell season . `` We got our goals , luckily I pulled off a couple of saves and we defended well , '' he told ITV Sport . `` It was important of course because we lost to Chelsea and Liverpool so the gap in the league is now non-existent . '' Manchester City host Reading and West Ham take on Stoke Sunday in the other quarterfinals .
Manchester United beat Arsenal 2-0 to reach FA Cup semifinals . Goals from Fabio and Wayne Rooney seal United 's passage . The last time the English champions reached a semifinal was in 1990 when they lost 1-0 against Nottingham Forest.