West Brom ease fears

Birmingham - West Bromwich Albion boosted its hopes of avoiding relegation from the Premier League with a 3-1 victory over Birmingham at St. Andrew's on Saturday.

Youssouf Mulumbu, James Morrison and Paul Scharner scored second-half goals for West Brom, which claimed a first league win since Jan. 15 to climb into 16th place and above Birmingham.

Hosts Birmingham came back down to earth after beating Arsenal 2-1 to win the League Cup last Sunday, falling apart after Chile midfielder Jean Beausejour had made it 1-1 in the 48th minute.

It was West Brom's first victory since former Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson took charge of the team on Feb. 10.