Lamine Kone back to his very best plus five other things learned from Sunderland's victory at the Palace

Sunderland wiped the floor with Sam Allardyce's Crystal Palace side to throw the relegation battle wide open.

Had the Black Cats lost and other results gone against them, they could have found themselves eight points adrift.

Instead, they are now within touching distance of safety after putting four past Palace.

Here's what we learned:

Lamine Kone back to his very best.

Sunderland have been waiting all season for their best centre-back to return to his form of last season and this week he has delivered.

Powerful defensive displays against Tottenham Hotspur and Crystal Palace, with a goal to boot as well. Kone was the best player on the pitch against Palace.

Commanding at the heart of Sunderland's defence, he didn't give Christian Benteke a sniff.

Benteke would have been proud of Kone's smart volley to put Sunderland 1-0 up.

David Moyes gets his tactics spot on.

Both sides played with wing-backs at Selhurst Park, with Sunderland happy for Palace to dominate possession as they looked to pick them off on the break.

And they did just that. Four times in a blistering first-half display. Palace and former Black Cats boss Sam Allardyce were left shell-shocked.

Moyes wasn't getting too carried away, Allardyce is a close friend after all, but the Scot will have taken an immense amount of satisfaction from his side's display.

Bryan Oviedo take a bow.

With Patrick van Aanholt moving to Palace in deal worth a staggering £14million, Moyes turned to his former club Everton for a new left-back.

Oviedo was straight in against Palace and was outstanding at full-back. Quick to let Wilfried Zaha know who was boss, Oviedo dominated Palace's main attacking threat.

Showed a real willingness to get forward too down the left hand-side. A very promising debut.

Victory comes at a cost.

The January additions have helped boost the options available to Moyes, with the Sunderland bench looking the strongest it has for several weeks.

Moyes went with experience with Fabio Borini, Wahbi Khazri, Steven Pienaar and Joleon Lescott among the subs.

Sunderland have had to contend with a crippling injury list recently so the last thing they needed was further blows on that front.

Moyes left sweating on the fitness of John O'Shea, Jack Rodwell and Adnan Januzaj.

Africa Cup of Nations gives Sunderland a much-needed boost.

Sunderland may have been without Lamine Kone and Didier Ndong for the bulk of January but the pair have come back refreshed and in form.

Both have been excellent since returning to Wearside, with Kone dominant against Palace and Ndong showing real evidence of why Sunderland shelled out a club record fee for him.

Huge three months for Adnan Januzaj.

The on-loan Manchester United midfielder has been a big disappointment since arriving on Wearside, with little to show for his undoubted natural ability.

On Saturday, though, he produced the level of display Sunderland fans had been hoping to see from him all season - setting up both of Jermain Defoe's goals.

The second assist was sublime. Picking out Defoe through the eye of a needle.

Januzaj needs to show he can produce this regularly between now and the end of the season.