A buoyant David Moyes expressed his belief that Sunderland are capable of beating the drop and retaining their place in the Premier League.
After holding title-chasing Tottenham to a goalless draw in midweek, Sunderland thumped fellow strugglers Crystal Palace 4-0 at Selhurst Park on Saturday.
Although the Black Cats remain bottom, they are now just two points adrift of safety, and Moyes was in confident mood ahead of their upcoming push for survival.
"I am positive that we have a really good chance," Moyes told his post-match news conference. "We are in fighting with a few teams.
"I have been in football long enough to know that you just don't know what happens in the run-in, who you can pull into it and where your points come from.
"We will have to win the odd really big game against some of the big teams in the run-in.
"They are the sort of things I have found in football. I believe we can do it, I really do.
"Every game is going to be difficult for us but the nature of this one meant it was always going to be hard. I thought we did a really good job."
Jermain Defoe scored twice in first-half stoppage time as Sunderland struck three times in the space of five minutes, and the magnitude of the victory was not lost on him.
"It is important to try and get results against the teams around you," Defoe is quoted as saying by BBC Sport.
"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. 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."
