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Jermain Defoe’s 15 league goals this season earned him Sunderland’s Player of the Year award.

Despite missing out on an England call-up, manager Sam Allardyce credited the 33-year-old striker with the Black Cats survival as he contributed to over 30% of his side’s goals single-handedly.

To make Sunderland’s Premier League safety even sweeter, it came at the expense of rivals Newcastle United who were relegated to the Championship after finishing two points adrift of the Wearsiders.

But what did Sunderland’s other players contribute to the survival battle? Here’s an in depth look at each of the Sunderland players’ Opta statistics for the season.

Goalkeepers

(Image: PA Wire)

Vito Mannone

The Italian’s statistics back-up Big Sam’s decision to sell Pantilimon in January. Mannone’s save/shot ratio was 76.3% compared to the Romanian’s 68.3%.

Jordan Pickford

Despite conceding six goals in his two league appearances, Pickford looks a bright prospect and made 11 saves and eight catches.

Defenders

(Image: PA Wire)

Billy Jones

Jones lost his place at right-back to DeAndre Yedlin who won two per-cent more of his tackles.

DeAndre Yedlin

Yedlin also proved better than Jones in attack too. The pair both created 12 chances but Yedlin’s percentage of successful crosses was five per-cent better.

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Patrick van Aanholt

The Black Cats’ most successful crosser this season - with 23% finding their target.

Tommy Robson

Won over two-thirds of his duals and aerial duals in his debut against Watford. Another bright prospect.

John O’Shea

Sunderland’s most dominant defender in the air, winning 75% of his aerial duals.

Lamine Kone

A great addition in January, Kone reads the game well and made 33 interceptions in his 15 games while not being booked once.

(Image: 2016 Getty Images)

Younes Kaboul

Sunderland’s most successful defender in the tackle this season - the Frenchman won a massive 81% of the tackles he put in.

Wes Brown

The 36-year-old is out of contract and likely to leave this summer. But the veteran’s defensive stats from his six appearances this season were still impressive enough to suggest he could play on elsewhere.

Midfielders

(Image: 2016 Getty Images)

Jan Kirchhoff

After a horror debut at Tottenham, the German cemented his place in the team in a holding role just in front of Sunderland’s defence. And he looked solid there as he won three-quarters of his tackles and averaged more than two interceptions per game.

Yann M’Vila

M’Vila played in every league game after joining - missing only the opening-day defeat at Leicester. As well as completing 99 tackles, he also had the highest pass success rate of the current squad to play more than one game.

Lee Cattermole

His defensive stats are solid as you would expect, but this also shows how underrated his passing ability is. Only four players who played more than one game had higher pass success percentages. The vice-captain also created 23 chances too.

Seb Larsson

Struggled this season after winning the Player of the Year award the season before. Kirchhoff was the only midfielder with a lower pass success percentage than Larsson, but the Swede’s rate was still a respectable 75%.

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Jack Rodwell

His unwanted record of Sunderland never winning a league game when he starts is still intact. For Someone you paid £10million for you’d expect more than just 14 chances created and no assists. Perhaps offered his Sunderland career a reprieve with his goal against Watford on the final day.

Ola Toivonen

A disappointing campaign for the Swedish loanee who did not feature at all in the league in 2016. He did provide two assists, however. That was more than Wahbi Khazri and Fabio Borini created.

(Image: 2015 Sunderland AFC)

George Honeyman

A 38-minute Premier League debut from the bench at Watford. Honeyman slotted in well and completed all five of his passes to finish the season with a 100% pass success rate.

Forwards

(Image: 2016 Sunderland AFC)

Duncan Watmore

Jermain Defoe averaged a goal every 170 minutes and Watmore was the only player to come even remotely close to that. His three goals from his 907 minutes of action means he averaged a goal every 302.33 minutes. But that statistic also backs up Big Sam’s theory that other players need to chip in more with goals.

Jeremain Lens

Another who failed to live up to the billing. Only Adam Johnson and Yann M’Vila had more assists than Lens, however, as the Dutchman created three goals for his team.

Wahbi Khazri

One-third of the influential trio that arrived in January to inspire Sunderland to safety. Khazri scored two goals - both from outside the box - from just five efforts on target.

(Image: PA Wire)

Fabio Borini

Might be disappointed with just the five goals this season but his comfort on the ball meant he was fouled, and earned Sunderland free-kicks, more than any of his team-mates - 51 times in total.

Rees Greenwood

The final debutant at Watford, Greenwood has room for improvement after not completing either of his two attempted crosses, but he did complete 91% of his 23 passes.

Jermain Defoe

15 goals is the only number that really matters with Defoe. The hero of the season as he kept Sunderland up.

(Image: 2016 Getty Images)

Dame N’Doye

The one January signing who failed to make an impact. In 11 appearances the striker only managed four shots on target - although Allardyce did often use him as a wideman.

Watch fan-footage of Sunderland supporters partying at Watford