Liverpool on the opening day of the campaign presents the most daunting of starts to the new season and that's followed by testing games against Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City.

But the Sunderland manager says he will not be the voice of caution on the eve of the season.

"Hey, look, I'm not here to dampen expectations," he said.

"It's part of my job to have everyone going into the season believing we are going to have a good season.

"Whether that will be or not, I don't know.

"But I know that we have to look at it in a positive way and I've got to be honest and say that we go into this season with higher hopes than we had last season.

"Personally, I'm looking forward to it and I think we are a bit more confident here than we were last summer.

"I've got great hope for the season as well as them and fingers crossed we are going to have a good season."

Last season, Keane went into his first season as a Premiership manager in bullish mood, intent on challenging as high up the table as he could.

In the event, it proved far tougher and more testing than he imagined but he feels the lessons learned and hurdles overcome last season, will stand the club in good stead for this one.

He reflected: "Every season is different.

"A lot of people tend to look back over the last one or two seasons.

"I'm not a great one for looking back. I'm not a great one for remembering too much.

"But I do know that going into this season we are obviously a lot more wiser than last season.

"I think the expectation from the supporters will be a little higher.

"I think this time last year, the words on everyone's lips was survival.

"It wasn't on mine but as the season went on I realised how tough football was at this level.

"We managed to finish 15th last season.

"But this season I'm sure with the players we've got in and the fact that the players have had a year in the Premiership, we can look to do better."

Keane has a full squad to choose from apart from Dwight Yorke (fractured cheekbone) and Kenwyne Jones (knee injury).