LONDON (AP): Marouane Fellaini and Louis Saha scored within seven minutes as Everton rallied to beat Middlesbrough 2-1 yesterday and join Manchester United and Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-finals.

David Wheater's 44th-minute header for Premier League struggler Middlesbrough threatened an upset at Goodison Park. But Fellaini headed an equaliser in the 50th minute and Saha scored the winner in the 56th.

"It's great, we're all happy. The first half was one of the poorest performances of our season," said Everton captain Phil Neville, whose club won the last of its five FA Cup titles in 1995.

"In the second half, we showed the real Everton and we're not just going to the semi-final now, we want to actually win the trophy and that's been our aim right from the word go. We want to go all the way."

Arsenal beat League Championship club Burnley 3-0 in yesterday's other FA Cup game, although that was in the previous round.

The Gunners next meet Hull for a place in the semi-finals and the winner will face Chelsea. The other semi-final will be Manchester United vs. Everton and the games will be played at Wembley on the weekend of April 18-19.

Wheater headed home a cross by Matthew Bates just before half-time to give Boro, who are next to last in the Premier League and in danger of relegation, hope of glory.

The header beat Everton's American goalkeeper, Tim Howard, who tried to scramble the ball away with his left hand although it had already crossed the line.

Fellaini headed in a right-wing cross after goalkeeper Brad Jones blundered by leaving his line and getting nowhere near the ball. Six minutes later, Saha headed in a left-wing cross by Steven Pienaar.

Free kick

Everton left back Leighton Baines later hit the bar with a free kick.

The loss means that all Middlesbrough are left with is Premier League survival.

"That's all we have left to focus on," said manager Gareth Southgate. "We've seen today why we are where we are, because we can't see matches through when we're ahead. We've got more lessons to learn from today.

"We've got a quarter of the season to go and we've got to show the spirit and the resilience we showed in the first half here and fight all the way to the end."

Poor defending

While all three goals at Goodison Park were the result of poor defending, top quality finishing at Emirates Stadium sent Arsenal into the quarter-finals and a long-awaited meeting with Hull.

The Gunners' cup run has been held up by a combination of replays and postponements and Arsene Wenger's team has been a round behind the rest of its rivals.

Carlos Vela collected a pass from Andriy Arshavin, ran between two defenders and, with two more closing, chipped the ball over goalkeeper Brian Jensen in the 24th minute.

Eduardo da Silva added the second in the 51st with an audacious flick off the outside of his left boot and Emmanuel Eboue drove home the third in the 83rd with a powerful, low shot.

"We scored brilliant goals," Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said. "It could have been a few more, but overall we did the job in a conscientious and serious way."

Now, Arsenal bid to beat Hull and reach the semi-finals for the 26th time, a record feat that Man United achieved on Saturday with a 4-0 victory at Fulham, including two goals from Carlos Tevez. Everton are now third on the list with 24 appearances.

Chelsea won comfortably at second-tier club Coventry with goals by Didier Drogba and Alex.

In the only Premier League match of the weekend, Sunderland and Tottenham drew 1-1 and both are five points above the relegation zone.