JERMAIN DEFOE has the backing to fire Sunderland up the Premier League table from the dressing room despite fears he could be sold when the transfer window opens in January.

Sam Allardyce, the Black Cats boss, was quick to dismiss any suggestion he had made up his mind to offload the experienced goalscorer after hitting the winner at Crystal Palace on Monday night.

But that is unlikely to stop suggestions he will be moving on, with a number of top-flight clubs known to be considering a New Year swoop for Defoe; Bournemouth and Crystal Palace are of the two clubs to have been linked.

The 33-year-old – who only signed from Toronto at the start of the year - has found it harder to hold down a first team place at the Stadium of Light since Gus Poyet left in March, with Dick Advocaat and Allardyce unable to find a system which suits him.

There has been plenty of sympathy for Defoe on Wearside, although many observers from outside of the region have wrongly assumed that poor form was the reason for him spending large amounts of time on the bench.

But Allardyce hopes to have come up with a system to suit Defoe, which allows Steven Fletcher to partner him in attack while still ensuring Sunderland are solid at the back with a five-man defence.

Sunderland skipper John O’Shea knows how important the former Tottenham and England striker will be in the players’ attempts to build on two victories in five matches under his latest boss.

“From what quarters has Jermain been getting stick? He’s not coming in for any stick from any of us, believe me,” said O’Shea, hoping Defoe will have recovered from a twisted ankle picked up on Monday for this weekend.

“We know what Jermain can do in front of goal and, hopefully, if we can get him and Fletch on the same pitch together more often we know they’ll cause teams problems.

“Obviously, at the minute the manager’s just trying to find out a system where we can get them both on the pitch. He’s still trying to learn a little bit more about the squad, about everyone, and that’s the key.

“But another big thing at Palace was taking a clean sheet. Obviously, scoring the goal’s the main thing. But we need to get these clean sheets and if we can do that we’ll definitely create chances.

“That’s always been the case, it’s what kept us up last season, keeping clean sheets but knowing we have a threat at the other end.”

O’Shea was at the heart of three centre-backs at Selhurst Park and, together with Sebastian Coates and Younes Kaboul, turned in a performance to frustrate the attack-minded Eagles.

The performance and efficiency of that triumvirate allowed wing-backs Patrick van Aanholt and Billy Jones to push on when they could to help with the counter-attacks – and it was from one of those that Sunderland got their reward when Defoe scored ten minutes from time.

“We spoke beforehand about having Fletch and Jermain up top, we knew if we could play some nice, quick passes we could get them chances,” said O’Shea.

“Billy (Jones) put a decent ball in and we were able to capitalise on a mistake, and you know Jermain’s not going to miss those chances.

“You also saw at the end of the game as well, when Duncan (Watmore) and Jeremain (Lens) came on. The manager made changes at vital times, then Danny (Graham) came on as well.

“We have players who are going to cause problems when teams are tired. It was important we kept our concentration. The big thing we all wanted was a clean sheet but, obviously, the three points is very special. It was a massive win.”

Sunderland are now just a point shy of Newcastle, who occupy fourth from bottom spot, ahead of this weekend’s round of fixtures. With a home date with Stoke pencilled in, there is optimism that a second consecutive win will lift them out of the bottom three.

The visit of the Potters, playing well under Mark Hughes, and Watford two weeks later are huge games before Christmas, given Sunderland also have trips to Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City lined up during that run.

Having returned from London on Monday night with three points, however, confidence is as high as it has been this season.

O’Shea said: “You watch the other games all weekend and some results go for you and some don’t. But you just have to do the job yourself, and we knew it was going to be a big test against a very good Palace team who’d just beaten Liverpool away from home.

“We had a gameplan to hit them on the break at times, and at stages we did it very well in the first half. With a bit better quality and passing we would have caused them a few more problems.

“But we knew we were going to have to defend, we knew they’d have a lot of the ball. But we kept our shape well, showed great discipline and thankfully we capitalised on a mistake.”

Fabio Borini could be back in contention for a place against Stoke. The Italian missed the trip to Selhurst Park with a knock picked up during the international break, but he has trained this week.