Swansea City have climbed out of the relegation zone courtesy of a 3-0 victory over relegation rivals Sunderland at the Liberty Stadium this afternoon.
A Gylfi Sigurdsson penalty and Fernando Llorente brace handed the Swans just their second win in their last 14 league games, sending Sunderland back to the bottom of the standings in the process.
With both sides beginning the day in the bottom three the match perhaps unsurprisingly got off to a tentative start, and it took until the 15th minute for either keeper to have a save to make - Jordan Pickford keeping out Llorente's header.
A sodden afternoon in South Wales matched the mood of the struggling hosts early on, though, and Sunderland soon began to increase their pressure when Sebastian Larsson - making his first start of the season - saw his free kick comfortably collected by Lukasz Fabianski.
Jermain Defoe scored a hat-trick in the corresponding fixture last season and almost added to his tally of five goals in three games for Sunderland against Swansea when he lashed a powerful strike narrowly over the crossbar following a swift counter-attack.
The Swans have made their worst start to a league season at any level since 1983, but they began to grow into the game as the half wore on and Alfie Mawson perhaps should have done better when he nodded Sigurdsson's cross over the bar shortly before the half-hour mark.
Sigurdsson has been Swansea's chief creator this season, and he set up another clear chance with less than 10 minutes remaining of the half when his cross was met by Jordi Amat, but once again the header was too high.
Both sides went into the break goalless, but it took just five minutes for that to change as Swansea got the all-important opening goal from the penalty spot.
Jason Denayer was penalised for a handball inside the area during the early stages of the half, and the in-form Sigurdsson stepped up to fire his spot kick down the middle.
With the worst defensive record in the division before kickoff, the hosts knew that a second goal may be needed to give themselves a cushion, and it took just two more minutes to arrive as Sigurdsson turned provider to pick out Llorente, who steered a low corner past Pickford with a deft finish.
The Spaniard came close again shortly before the hour mark when Modou Barrow collected Sigurdsson's cross and turned it back into the middle, but this time Llorente was unable to steer it home.
Pickford kept Sunderland just about hanging on with a fine save to deny Amat moments later having also denied Barrow's low strike earlier in the half, and Defoe almost made those stops even more valuable when he drilled an effort just wide from the edge of the box.
The match was well and truly put to bed with nine minutes remaining, however, as Llorente climbed highest in the area to power a header past Pickford from Jefferson Montero's cross.
There was still work for the Swans to do on their way to a rare clean sheet, but Fabianski tipped Papy Djilobodji's header over the top to keep his unblemished record intact as the hosts saw out a priceless victory.
Swansea have now won back-to-back home matches for the first time this season and move from bottom of the table to 17th, now out of the relegation zone on goal difference.
Sunderland, meanwhile, have now won just one of their 16 away league games since their last visit to the Liberty Stadium and find themselves back bottom of the table, although they are just one point from safety.
Barney Corkhill
