Another entry in Jermain Defoe’s little book, another dilemma for Gus Poyet.

How do you rest a man who, on current form, will comfortably keep Sunderland in the Premier League?

That was the question niggling at Poyet this weekend, barely a week after admitting he did not enjoy watching his side play. That he spent much of Saturday wearing a huge grin says everything about the impact of a striker who has scored twice in three league games.

Sunderland manager Gus Poyet (right) is delighted with the impact of striker Jermain Defoe

Defoe (third right) scored for Sunderland in their 1-1 draw against Swansea in the Premier League

Defoe (right) celebrates with his Sunderland team-mates after scoring his second Sunderland goal

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The latest of those, a delightful strike against Swansea, means he is the only striker to have scored against all 20 clubs in the Premier League.

Trivial, maybe, but goals are what Sunderland have lacked and they keep Defoe interested.

‘Things like that are always special to me,’ Defoe said. ‘I keep a note of things I’ve done, a little incentive.

‘I just write down lists — sometimes it’s things I’ve done, sometimes it’s things I want to do. It hasn’t been much of a surprise. When you’ve spent your whole career in the Premier League it should not take you too long to get back into the swing of things.’

To that end, Poyet is hoping for 10 goals from the 32-year-old.

Poyet said: ‘It was a perfect deal, signing Jermain. Sometimes things happen for a reason and I hope it was that we deserved to get a player like Jermain. If he gets 10 goals we’re going to finish in a very nice place.’

Ki Sung-Yueng (centre) scored Swansea's goal as the match against Sunderland was drawn

Poyet believes that he cannot afford to give Defoe a rest while he keeps on finding the back of the net

The dilemma comes from knowing Defoe, whose opener on Saturday was cancelled out by Ki Sung-Yueng, must be handed a break at some point.