PREVIEW: Swansea City v Sunderland

Swansea City welcome Sunderland to the Liberty Stadium this afternoon in what has been billed as the club's biggest game of the season so far.

The Swans are in need of the vital three points to aid their climb away from the foot of the Premier League table and to right the wrongs of a disappointing performance at Tottenham last time out.

Sunderland, meanwhile, will be aiming to continue their positive run of form in recent weeks.

Despite being just two points clear of the Swans in 18th position, David Moyes' men have won three of their last four fixtures, including a 2-1 win at home to champions Leicester City last time out. 

Swansea will be without Ki Sung-Yueng and Federico Fernandez this afternoon as the duo continue their recovery from broken toes.

Sunderland were recently dealt a double injury blow of their own, with Duncan Watmore and Paddy McNair both ruled out for the season with cruciate ligament injuries.

The Black Cats will also be without Steven Pienaar, who suffered a concussion against Leicester City last weekend.

But with eight players currently out injured, David Moyes will be happy to welcome back Jason Denayer, who will return to the fold following illness.

Swans boss Bob Bradley: "I continue to work in every possible way to help us improve, and I will put my arms around these guys and say 'Come on, you can do it'.

"I am going to keep fighting. That's how I work.

"At the end of the day all that matters in this job is that you get results.

"Results are hard to come by when you take over a team who have been struggling, and results when you do that in the Premier League are even harder to come by.

"But that's what I signed up for when I took the job. I knew when I came in this was going to be a big test and it still is, but that's no problem."

Sunderland manager David Moyes: "We have picked up a really good couple of wins, we are on a roll at the moment and we just need that keep that up.

"It is three points (up for grabs at bottom club Swansea City on Saturday) but a really big three points because both of us are at the wrong end of the table.

"We want to keep winning, playing the way we are and keep the run going because to make sure we are a Premier League team that's what we are going to have to do."

Swansea City 2-4 Sunderland (January 2016)

Sunderland 1-1 Swansea City (August 2015)

Swansea City 1-1 Sunderland (February 2015)

Sunderland 0-0 Swansea City (September 2014)

Sunderland 1-3 Swansea City (May 2014)

1 - Swansea have only lost one of their last eight Premier League matches against Sunderland.

24 - Defoe has scored 24 Premier League goals in the month of December - only Wayne Rooney (31), Robbie Fowler (33) and Alan Shearer (39) have more.