The Baggies achieved their first win under Hodgson when they triumphed 3-1 at fellow strugglers Birmingham yesterday.

Goals from Youssouf Mulumbu, James Morrison and Paul Scharner sealed victory for Albion who have collected five points from three games under Hodgson.

West Brom have shown throughout the campaign that they are a potent attacking threat and leading scorer Peter Odemwingie tormented the City defence during the second half.

But Hodgson is aware that skill alone will not be enough to keep West Brom in the top flight and there has been more steel about their play in recent games.

He said: "There is a lot of quality in the squad and what we need is discipline, organisation and guts.

"Unfortunately, quality alone at this level won't keep you up.

"You've got to also have the other characteristics which the top teams also show.

"We don't talk about Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal having those characteristics but, believe me, they have and that is allied to the skill.

"If you took that side out of their game, they would pretty soon fall down the table as well.

"I know their managers know that as well. That's why they are going to stay up there."

Hodgson added: "The games coming up are very difficult. It's home games but it's against Arsenal and Liverpool, two top teams with top players.

"This three points was very important as was the one at Stoke in midweek.

"That showed we have got the character, got the discipline and we've got the guts to stand up in a physical battle despite the fact a lot of our players are not renowned for that aspect in their game."

Albion could now go a month without a game if the Manchester United-Arsenal FA Cup clash requires a replay.

But that will give key midfielder Graham Dorrans time to recover from an ankle injury suffered in training.

Hodgson said: "He's going to be out for a little while - at least a couple of weeks, if not more.

"It's quite nasty because he got his studs caught in the grass.

"The Arsenal game, if it goes ahead, will be a major doubt for him. We're hoping he'll be back for the start of April."

Blues boss Alex McLeish will demand a positive response from his side after they slipped into the bottom three just a week after their Carling Cup triumph.

City sorely missed key injured players in Barry Ferguson, Craig Gardner, Martin Jiranek and Nikola Zigic, while Liam Ridgewell needed an injection in his groin before kick-off to be able to play.

McLeish, whose side visit Everton on Wednesday, said: "Hopefully I've got the bodies to make the assault on those games coming up because it was a crushing defeat for us to lose to a team round about us.

"Maybe it might have been better if we had played somebody like Manchester United away from home today after a cup final.

"It was always going to be a hard test but we just didn't come up to the standards I expect. I thought we lost in a second rate manner.

"The goals we lost were of a schoolboy standard."

Birmingham debutant Curtis Davies said: "If you are not hurting from losing, then you shouldn't be playing football.

"This isn't a Sunday league game where we can go to the pub afterwards, have a pint and forget about it and think 'right, there's another game next week'.

"This is our livelihood. This is our job. If we aren't doing our jobs, then there will be someone to replace you."

Winger Jean Beausejour netted City's consolation effort.