From rock bottom to within sight of safety, Sunderland manager David Moyes no longer looks like a lame duck. Stories of a premature departure from the Stadium of Light have been shelved and, behind the scenes, Moyes has been appreciative of the patience shown in him by fans and local media alike.
The austerity of Moyes' early months in charge, in which Sunderland produced the all-time worst 10-game start to a Premier League season (just two points) has been loosening. Six points from their last two matches, winning 2-1 at Bournemouth before then crushing Hull City 3-0 last Saturday at home, has made relegation not nearly so inevitable. After an agonising wait for a first victory and a clean sheet, Moyes' regime carries fresh optimism. Sunderland are only three points off 17th-placed West Ham but the gap is starting to feel wider.
Leading Moyes' successes is a reinvigorated Victor Anichebe. Moyes' signing of his former Everton charge on a free transfer in August looked distinctly underwhelming as Sunderland scrabbled for back-up to Jermain Defoe, the club's sole senior striker.
Anichebe, released by West Brom in the summer, had scored just 24 goals in 186 previous Premier League matches, an unpromising statistic. But Moyes was aware of the hard work the Nigerian was undertaking to avoid being consigned to the scrapheap. The 28-year-old spent some of his summer in Los Angeles, undergoing three sessions a day with a personal trainer, and when Moyes made the call to a player he had given an Everton debut as a 17-year-old, Anichebe was using the training facilities at Knutsford FC, the Cheshire League team near his home.
Since being installed alongside Defoe and Duncan Watmore in an attacking trio -- with the struggling and inconsistent Whabi Khazri dropped -- Anichebe has scored three times in Sunderland's last two matches: one at Bournemouth and two against Hull. It is an unprecedented scoring rate for him, but Anichebe's impact extends beyond that. It has shown benefits for Defoe too.
During Sunderland's struggles earlier this season, Defoe was the isolated beacon of hope as a packed midfield sat 25-30 yards behind him. But with Anichebe creating more space for him to work, his strikes against both Bournemouth and Hull saw him gain entry to the elite club of players on 150 Premier League goals. He is also, at 34, the leading English goal scorer in this season's Premier League on seven.
On Wearside, Defoe is held in high esteem; his dedication to a club a long way north of his London homeland is treasured. When then-manager Gus Poyet signed him in January 2015 on a lucrative three-and-a-half year deal, it appeared an act of kindness to a former Tottenham colleague, but Defoe's motivation and commitment have been rarely doubted since, even when briefly dropped by Dick Advocaat -- one of four managers he has worked under in just 22 months.
Defoe lived to regret leaving Tottenham in January 2014 to play for Toronto FC in MLS. He never settled in Canada and gratefully seized a chance to play in the Premier League again when Sunderland gave it to him. The club have also felt the benefit of a player who thinks deeply about his game, and has matured far beyond being the goal poacher he was as a youngster with West Ham.
Arsenal legend Ian Wright, whom a teenage Defoe trained alongside at the Hammers, has been a regular confidante and mentor, with the pair going over video footage of Defoe's performances together. Wright played until he was 37, and Defoe, who does not drink alcohol and maintains a strict diet, looks capable of emulating that.
Last season, Defoe disproved doubters -- including manager Sam Allardyce -- who said he could not play as a lone striker when scoring 15 goals that kept Sunderland up. Against Bournemouth and Hull, having Anichebe around to run the channels and take on the physical burden has acquired him fresh space and freedom.
On Saturday, Moyes will return to Liverpool. Anfield has been barren hunting ground for him, having never won there in 12 years at Everton or with Manchester United over 14 matches, but the chances of sustaining improvement are stronger in Sunderland's following pair of fixtures: the visit of struggling champions Leicester to Wearside, and then a trip to Swansea.
There are still worries for Moyes. Wednesday brought confirmation that defender/midfielder Paddy McNair will miss the rest of the season with a cruciate knee ligament injury suffered against Hull, to follow the loss of club captain Lee Cattermole for four months after a knee cartilage operation. Though, such blows are tempered by the imminent return of Jan Kirchhoff, the former Bayern Munich midfielder who starred last season for Allardyce, and the recent conversion of Jason Denayer, on loan from Manchester City, into an adept anchor midfielder.
It seems Moyes has begun to find solutions to Sunderland's previously terminal problems but it is the form of both Anichebe and Defoe which could be the defining aspect in the club's battle for survival.