Sam Allardyce has suggested that Jermain Defoe can be Sunderland's answer to Manchester City hitman Sergio Aguero as they continue to fight for survival.

The 33-year-old impressed off the bench in last Sunday's 3-0 Wear-Tyne win over Newcastle United, but it remains to be seen if he can secure a regular starting berth under Allardyce.

Defoe, who has 130 Premier League goals under his belt, partnered target man Steven Fletcher last week, but the new Black Cats boss hints that he is more than capable of leading the line on his own.

"Jermain could play up on his own maybe. Can he do it, can he deal with it? Nobody thought, for a long time, at Manchester City that Aguero could play up on his own. He always wanted to play up with a big man," he is quoted as saying by The Mirror.

"Now you see him playing up on his own brilliantly. You can get your defensive side right, but you're going to need someone to score and Jermain Defoe's track record says he needs fewer chances to score than anyone else, normally.

"At the moment, I'm two games into the job and I thought he made a good contribution last weekend, so we'll see."

Sunderland, who sit 19th in the table, having won just once all season, travel away to Everton this afternoon.