Sunderland striker Jermain Defoe has praised his side for delivering a 'brilliant performance' in their 4-0 humiliation of relegation rivals Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park today.

All four goals came in the first half of the encounter, with Lamine Kone opening the scoring and Didier Ndong finding the net before Defoe hit a brace in the space of three minutes of time added on.

The result saw the Black Cats stay put at the bottom of the table but did move them within two points of safety as Palace dropped to 19th.

"We knew it would be a difficult game coming here," Defoe told reporters afterwards. "It is important to try and get results against the teams around you.

"The main thing was to handle the pressure and show courage. We managed to do that and to get goals.

"When you go in at half time and you are up it is not always easy. You have got to be disciplined, professional and have to keep going and we did that. It is a great win for us.

"I thought the performance was brilliant from the first minute to the last. We have had two games in a week. Credit to the boys, everyone played their part. This is a massive, massive win for us. It is not only that we won the game but how we won."

Next up for Sunderland is the visit of Southampton to the Stadium of Light next Saturday.