Sunderland have beaten Leicester City 2-1 at the Stadium of Light to move off the bottom of the Premier League table.

An own goal from Robert Huth and a Jermain Defoe strike in the second half was enough to see off the league champions and move David Moyes's side up to 18th place.

The Black Cats started the afternoon on the front foot and almost took the lead in the fourth minute when Patrick van Aanholt's cross found Victor Anichebe, but the former Everton forward's shot was deflected over the bar.

Sunderland continued to ask all of the questions and came close again in the 18th minute when Anichebe's cross was almost turned in at close range by Jermain Defoe, the former England man's effort sailing just wide.

Leicester weathered the early storm and created a few chances of their own in the first half, with Jamie Vardy twice failing to hit the target with headers from inside the box.

The Foxes came closest to breaking the deadlock before the interval right on the stroke of half time when Christian Fuchs's cross eluded Jordan Pickford in the Sunderland goal and ricocheted off the bar.

Sunderland took the lead midway through the second half when Jan Kirchhoff's header from a corner took a wicked deflection off Huth and ended up in the net, credited as an own goal by the Leicester defender.

The hosts doubled their lead in the 77th minute as Duncan Watmore's strike was deflected into the path of Defoe inside the area and the veteran striker kept his cool and fired into the bottom corner.

Sunderland could ill afford to rest on their laurels in the latter stages as Leicester substitute Shinji Okazaki flicked Demarai Gray's cross in at the near post to set up a nervy finish for the hosts, but they held on through seven minutes of tense stoppage time to claim a vital win.

The victory leaves Sunderland in the drop zone by just one point, while struggling champions Leicester are only two points above it.