Patrick van Aanholt reacts to netting Sunderland winner in '˜must-win' Watford game

The Dutch left-back scored the winning goal four minutes after the break after a sweeping move by Sunderland.

It was his third of the campaign and no defender has scored more Premier League goals since the start of last season than the 26-year-old, who has netted seven in total.

A delighted van Aanholt says the Sunderland squad and fans can now look forward to enjoying Christmas after moving off the bottom of the table.

“It was a must-win - before the game, the gaffer said that,” said van Aanholt.

“We got to half-time with a clean sheet, and we had made a couple of chances down the left-hand side.

“The gaffer said we had to keep doing what we were doing and the chances would fall, and fortunately I scored the goal.

“It’s been a while since I scored, so I am happy with that.

“It has helped us get the three points which is the most important thing.

“We can have a lovely Christmas now!”

The clean sheet against Watford was only Sunderland’s second of the season.

Van Aanholt added: “Sometimes you just have to win, and that’s what we did.

“Now we can move on to the next one.

“We always battle, and we did a great job to keep a clean sheet.

“Clean sheets help you win games, and thankfully we got the three points.”