Sunderland defeated fellow relegation candidates Swansea City 4-2 thanks to a hat-trick from Jermaine Defoe at the Liberty Stadium.

The Black Cats got off to a flyer as Jermain Defoe tapped into an empty net following Fabio Borini's effort in the third minute before Gylfi Sigurdsson replied for Swansea from the penalty spot after Wes Brown was penalised for bringing down Andre Ayew in the area.

There was controversy in 38th minute when Kyle Naughton was sent off after a challenge on Sunderland's Yann M'Vila which put the home side on the back foot.

Despite being reduce to 10 men, Swansea took the lead five minutes before the break through a fantastic individual effort from Ayew to give Alan Curtis' outfit the advantage at the interval.

A lively start to the second half saw Sam Allardyce's men draw level through Patrick van Aanholt's deflected shot four minutes into the second half before Defoe netted his second of the match on 61 minutes, racing onto a through ball from Adam Johnson, to put the Black Cats 3-2 up.

Defoe then completed his hat-trick late on from a rapid counter-attack as Sunderland went home with all three points to jump above local rivals Newcastle United into 18th position with Swansea remaining 17th, teetering above the drop zone.

2015/16 BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE - SEASON SCORES

Swansea City: 2 (Gylfi Sigurdsson (PEN) 21', Andre Ayew 40, red card: Kyle Naughton 38')
Sunderland: 4 (Jermain Defoe 3'/61'/85', Patrick van Aanholt 49')
Liberty Stadium, Swansea - 20,140

Report by Joe Baker