SUNDERLAND might have failed to add to their squad on transfer-deadline day, but to coin an old phrase, David Moyes was still able to turn to two players that must have felt like new signings.

The Black Cats played four matches while Lamine Kone and Didier Ndong were on international duty at the Africa Cup of Nations, and didn’t win any of them. True, they didn’t win on Tuesday either, but with Kone and Ndong back in the fray, Moyes’ side produced their most accomplished display for the best part of two months as they held Tottenham to a goalless draw.

A coincidence? Hardly. Kone was badly missed during his stint representing the Ivory Coast, with Papy Djilobodji’s absence until March further accentuating his importance. Ndong has improved markedly during his time in a Sunderland shirt, and while Moyes might have a number of midfielders returning from injury in the next couple of weeks, none can match the Gabon international for energy and defensive resilience.

If Sunderland are to haul themselves out of the relegation zone in their remaining 15 games, they are almost certainly going to need Kone and Ndong playing to their peak of their form. On Tuesday’s evidence, at least the duo do not have a Cup of Nations hangover to contend with.

“I feel like my form is good,” said Kone, who was especially impressive as he shackled Spurs’ free-scoring forward Harry Kane. “I had a hip injury, but now it is fine and I feel really good.

“I will try to play as well as I did towards the end of last season. I am working really hard on the training ground every day, and I really hope to help keep Sunderland in the Premier League.

“It was very difficult to be away with my national team. But that is life, and now I am focused on my team, Sunderland. Now, we have a very big game on Saturday against Crystal Palace. It is very important for us, and I hope we can play like this (the Tottenham display) again at Crystal Palace.”

Saturday’s trip to Selhurst Park has felt like a potentially pivotal moment for quite a while now, with Palace’s 2-0 win at Bournemouth making it even more essential that Sunderland do not lose in South London.

Goals from Scott Dann and Christian Benteke enabled Palace to claim their first league win since early December on Tuesday, and lifted the Eagles three points clear of their weekend opponents in the table.

Lose on Saturday, and Sunderland will be a minimum of five points adrift of safety. The gap could be six if other results go against them, and while they have recovered from similar situations in the past, it is surely imperative that the Wearsiders claim something in two days’ time.

Palace’s win at the Vitality Stadium was their first league success under Sam Allardyce, and the presence of the former Sunderland boss in the home dug-out at Selhurst Park will add even more spice to what was already going to be an intense occasion.

Allardyce plucked Kone from the relative obscurity of Lorient to thrust him into the Premier League limelight, and the centre-half responded with a series of excellent displays that did much to aid Sunderland’s survival bid 12 months ago.

At the start of last month, there were plenty of rumours linking Kone with a potential move to Palace, but while Allardyce returned to the Stadium of Light to sign Patrick van Aanholt for £14m, he opted to ignore the January signings that proved so influential last season. Wahbi Khazri and Jan Kirchhoff will not be involved at the weekend, so it will have to be Kone that comes back to haunt his former manager.

“For me, Sam Allardyce is a good manager and a good guy,” said the defender. “He brought me to England, and I will always be thankful for that. But now he is with Crystal Palace and I am here at Sunderland, so I hope to win against Sam Allardyce. It is a very, very, important game for Sunderland.”

To get anything on Saturday, Sunderland’s defending will have to be better than it was when they were last on their travels. Last month’s 2-0 defeat at West Brom featured a number of defensive errors, but having contributed to what was only a third clean sheet of the season against Spurs, Kone sees grounds for optimism.

“I thought it was a very good performance from us,” he said. “It is very important that we always defend as well as that now. Against Tottenham, the whole defence was focused, and I was very happy with the point.”