Sunderland manager Sam Allardyce has suggested that Jermain Defoe is not automatically handed a starting spot in the team following his winning goal last weekend.

The former Tottenham Hotspur forward netted in the 80th minute to give the Black Cats a slender victory over Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.

However, Allardyce has claimed that he might chop and change his formation for this weekend's match against Stoke City.

"It's week by week, game by game," Allardyce told reporters. "The most important thing for us is it looks like Jermain is going to be fit and having the full squad fit is always extremely important to your team and your selection process, having the availability of players to maybe adjust what you do or tweak what you do to try to win the next game.

"But at the moment, we have just got to try to get prepared to beat Stoke City the best way we can. We have been looking at that for the last two days visually and it's up to me today and then tomorrow to select the team to try to play against Stoke City and try to get another victory if we can."

Sunderland are currently third from bottom in the Premier League table, one point adrift of safety.