Sunderland scored their second win of the season with a 1-0 result over Crystal Palace on Monday night.
Jermain Defoe's opportunistic 80th-minute goal, from a Scott Dann defensive error, gave the Black Cats their second triumph under new boss Sam Allardyce which allowed them to move from second bottom to 18th on the table.
For Alan Pardew's Palace, it was a missed opportunity as they dominated possession, but were toothless in attack and fell to their sixth loss of the campaign.
MATCH OVERVIEW
Crystal Palace: 0
Sunderland: 1 (Jermain Defoe 80')
Selhurst Park, London - 24,361
TALKING POINTS
?- Sunderland have found some much-needed form under Allardyce. Do they have what it takes to move clear of the bottom three?
- Palace have been ok on the road but must fix their home form which has yielded just two wins and a draw from their seven outings at Selhurst.
WHAT'S NEXT?
Palace will look to bounce back when they host Newcastle United on Saturday as Sunderland strive to go two in a row when they welcome Stoke City.?
TWITTER INSIGHT
Great team performance last night. Big respect to the fans who travelled down there also. We keep going.
— Younes Kaboul (@YounsKabs4) November 24, 2015
A nice win to top off a great week! #hawaythelads
— Ola Toivonen (@OlaToivonen20) November 23, 2015
QUOTES CORNER
Sunderland boss Allardyce asks his players, not him, to be the club's heroes:
"The players have given me more confidence today, I try to guide them but they are the ones who go out and do it.
"They've got to be the saviours, not me. I can guide them, and help them along the way."
Palace's Pardew on his side's inability to find the back of the net:
"We should have been cleaner and more incisive, especially in the last third."??
STATS SPECIALS
150 - Sam Allardyce has now won 150 Premier League games as a manager. Canny.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) November 23, 2015
7 - Jermain Defoe has now hit seven goals in his nine starts for Sunderland in all competitions this season. Touch.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) November 23, 2015
Source: tribalfootball.com