SUNDERLAND MANAGER Roy Keane admits he feels like a baby when he finds himself thrust into competition with the likes of Arsene Wenger.

Keane will go head-to-head with the Arsenal boss tomorrow a little more than two years into his management career.

However, he will be given a reminder of how much he, and the likes of Middlesbrough counterpart Gareth Southgate and Blackburn's Paul Ince, still have to learn today when he and Wenger lock horns at the Stadium of Light.

Keane said: "You are pitting your wits against these brilliant clubs and these managers, like Martin O'Neill last week. They have vast experience and I feel like a baby, really, just starting out.

"But that's the challenge we face, myself and people like Gareth and Incey. It's good, though. Hopefully these managers won't keep going on forever and they will move on soon and give us a chance. But they are absolutely brilliant managers, and they will be remembered more so when they are gone than they are at the moment."

Keane has worked hard behind the scenes to establish a scouting network around the world, and he currently has people working for him in 13 different countries.

However, he admits it will be a long time before he can boast the kind of set-up which has enabled Wenger to unearth a series of previously undiscovered gems for the Gunners.

He said: "Arsene Wenger, as much as he has spent, has not spent anywhere near as maybe some of the other big clubs on the players he has brought in and sold on for a profit. That's something we have to look at as a football club. We are not capable of continuing to spend £20 million, £25 million, £30 million every transfer window.

"That's where your scouting network pays off, and that is something we are looking to improve. But to try to compare our system at the moment to Arsenal's and people like that is crazy. We are a long way away yet.

Keane will hope the Gunners got their backlash from last weekend's shock 2-1 home defeat by Hull out of the way with their Champions League win over Porto in midweek, although he knows Sunderland face a major test.

Meanwhile, Wenger always felt Keane had the right "ingredients" to make a successful manager.

"He has done well in his first year. You see already when he was a player that there are ingredients in there that make a manager," said Wenger. "A management career is a marathon, but he has the qualities to become a great manager. It does not surprise me at all that he had a good first season because he has played for a long time at the top level," the Arsenal manager said.

"After that it is down to stamina in the motivation - stamina to get over the disappointment because a career unfortunately is not only about carrying trophies.

"It is about being able to be motivated and to fight every day, to get over big disappointments and continue with exactly the same strength and power."