Sunderland boss Sam Allardyce has lavished praise on Jermain Defoe after the Englishman scored the winner in Saturday's five-goal thriller with Chelsea in the Premier League.

Defoe's strike, which was his 15th in the league this season, secured a 3-2 win for Sunderland and ensured that the Black Cats would move out of the relegation zone.

Allardyce has said that he 'dreads to think' where his team would be in the table without the former England international.

"You give Jermain Defoe a chance and generally he at least hits the target. We've crawled out of the bottom three by the number of goals that he's scored. Without him I dread to think where we'd be as a team," Allardyce told reporters.

Sunderland are currently one point outside of the relegation zone with two games left.