Having seen Leicester City beat Newcastle United 3-0 earlier in the day, Sunderland needed maximum points in their penultimate home game of the season at the Stadium of Light on Saturday to avoid being cut adrift in the bottom three.
And they were given a helping hand thanks to some haphazard defending from Southampton in a game that stood in stark contrast to the 8-0 hammering Sunderland suffered at St Mary's Stadium in the reverse fixture in October.
Gomez opened the scoring for Dick Advocaat's men in the 21st minute with a coolly converted spot-kick following Jose Fonte's foul on Danny Graham.
Sunderland had barely finished celebrating when Sadio Mane took advantage of a calamitous defensive error less than two minutes later.
However, the home side were given another lifeline as James Ward-Prowse was sent off for bringing down Jermain Defoe, with midfielder Gomez stepping up to score a 55th-minute winner and move the Wearsiders to within a point of safety.
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