ROY Keane will make his first return to Manchester United this afternoon looking to avoid his worst run of results in more than a decade.

If Sunderland lose to the reigning Premier League champions, it will be the first time the Irishman has lost four games in a row since November 1996.

After starting the season with an impressive four-point haul from games against Tottenham and Birmingham, the Black Cats lost to Wigan and Liverpool before capitulating to a humiliating Carling Cup defeat at Luton.

Last season, Keane only suffered back-to-back defeats twice as Sunderland romped to the Championship title, and the Irishman has admitted that this month's losing run has provided him with one of the toughest tests of his fledgling managerial career.

"It hasn't been nice," he said. "I've felt pretty bad but you get on with it, come into work and try to be positive even if you have to fake it. Fake it to make it as they say.

"I tried to get a few hours sleep after the Luton game but it was very difficult. It was four or five in the morning and I found myself wide awake. I suppose you shouldn't expect a good night's sleep after something like that, but it's up to me to make sure that it doesn't happen very often.

"History suggests that I have not been great at dealing with setbacks. I'm a bloody bad loser, and I hope that never changes, but I know I have to deal with everything that's happened.

"I've worked with my staff and it's a question of eradicating the players' mistakes. There are things that have to be right if you want to achieve anything."

If Sunderland are to achieve an unexpected result later today, their defending is going to have to improve markedly from Tuesday night's slipshod display at Kenilworth Road.

Paul McShane will return to bolster the heart of the back four, while Danny Higginbotham is expected to make his debut alongside him just three days after completing a £3m move from Stoke.

With Greg Halford suspended following his midweek dismissal, Keane must decide whether to hand a debut to 17-year-old Michael Kay or switch Nyron Nosworthy into the vacant right-back slot.

Either way, though, the Irishman is determined Sunderland will not travel to Manchester with the intention of shutting up shot.

"If you think you can sit back for 90 minutes at Old Trafford, you will lose," he warned. "Tottenham and Reading have defended well there this season, but you can't expect to sit back for 90 minutes and hope to get something.

"You might end up being under pressure for 90 minutes, but it shouldn't be part of your plans. You want to give a good account of yourselves and that's what we'll be going there to do."

Andy Cole is unlikely to make an emotional return to Old Trafford this afternoon as he continues to build up his match fitness following this month's free transfer from Portsmouth.