Friday 3 February 2017 21:56, UK
Sam Allardyce has challenged Crystal Palace striker Christian Benteke to rival Jermain Defoe and Nicolas Anelka as the best forward he has worked with.
Allardyce will face former club Sunderland on Saturday, the first time since leaving to take the England manager's job having guided the Black Cats to an unlikely escape from relegation last season.
Jermain Defoe was at the heart of Sunderland's late surge from danger, scoring 15 league goals to help secure the club's top-flight status for the current campaign.
Allardyce's successor David Moyes faces a similar task this time around, with Sunderland sat bottom of the league - two points behind 18th-placed Palace.
However, Allardyce believes Defoe leaves his former club with every chance of survival, and the Crystal Palace boss wants his new main man to emulate Defoe's impact.
"We have all got enough time, David has got enough time, to get us out of trouble," said Allardyce. "But Saturday, the distance we put between us and them will be big if we win. It is a big difference we are going to try and achieve.
"It was never going to be easy [for Sunderland to survive again]. I hadn't signed a player when I had left and that was far too long. And it wasn't because I was going to England. It was because we couldn't find the right player for the right money we had.
"So I hadn't strengthened the squad by the time David took over and he didn't have a lot of time to do that. He did in the end and all those players have to bed in so late. That is a disruption.
"[But] if you have got Jermain Defoe, you have always got a chance, as it was with me last year. I would say he is on a par with Nicolas Anelka [as the best striker I have worked with], which is a big statement. I would imagine that Jermain at 26, as Nicolas was when I got him, was probably as good.
"I am trying to follow the exact same programme now. We have got Christian [Benteke] with 11 [goals]. Could he get 15, 16, 17? He could be our saviour. Different type, but he is a goalscorer."
