LONDON - Birmingham City's hopes of avoiding relegation nosedived after two-goal Czech striker Milan Baros led Aston Villa to a 3-1 victory over their city rivals on Sunday.

In the day's only other Premier League game, former England striker Robbie Fowler improved his chances of gaining a permanent contract with Liverpool by clinching a 1-0 win at Blackburn Rovers.

Fowler, who rejoined Liverpool on a six-month loan from Manchester City in January, grabbed his fourth goal in his second spell with the club when he took a reverse pass from Fernando Morientes to side-foot home in the 29th minute.

Third-placed Liverpool have 73 points with three games left, three points behind Manchester United and 12 adrift of champions-elect Chelsea, 2-0 winners at Bolton on Saturday. Blackburn, chasing a spot in next season's UEFA Cup, remained sixth on 54 points.

Villa, who also beat Steve Bruce's side earlier this season, secured their first Premier League double over their neighbours to leave third from bottom Birmingham firmly anchored in the drop zone.

Birmingham, who have 29 points from 34 games, are three behind Portsmouth with four matches remaining. The bottom three go down.

"We are still in there with a chance but we needed to beat Villa to keep the pressure on Portsmouth," Bruce told reporters. "We live to fight another day and we'll give it everything we can."

GOOD START

Villa made a good start when the unmarked Baros pounced on a 10th-minute cross from Aaron Hughes to fire the ball past goalkeeper Maik Taylor from eight metres.

Birmingham, who had not lost in the league at Villa Park since 1983, equalised 15 minutes later when Emile Heskey nodded the ball on for Chris Sutton to drive the ball low into the net with his left-foot from 12 metres.

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