KEANE BUOYANT AHEAD OF CAMPAIGN

Robbie Keane is confident Tottenham have the squad capable of breaking into the top four of the Premier League.

Spurs have bought Darren Bent, Gareth Bale and Younes Kaboul to bolster a squad that has run Arsenal close for the final Champions League place in the last two seasons, with hopes now of qualifying for Europe's top competition.

Keane and Bent were on target as Martin Jol's men opened their pre-season with a 3-1 win at Stevenage, and Dimitar Berbatov and Jermain Defoe are other attacking options.

"If you want to progress and get in the Champions League, which we are striving for, you need a good squad of players," said Keane. "Competition is always healthy and you have to get in the gaffer's head.

"Every season we are looking for progression, we finished fifth twice and we want to push on and break into the top four. With the squad of players we've got we're quite capable of doing it. It's up to us to do it."

While Arsenal have sold Thierry Henry to Barcelona, Spurs have signalled their intent with deals for Bent, Bale and Kaboul which could eventually cost more than £30million in total.

Keane added: "We don't want to jump the gun. We know how difficult it will be. Arsenal are a top side, they lost Henry but they are still a brilliant team.

"The big squad we have will be helpful because you always pick up injuries through the season, with the players we have we've got two for every position which is good."

Keane is targeting a solid start to the season after falling behind the pace in the early stages of the last campaign with one win from their first six league games.

The 27-year-old said: "We didn't start off too well last season so we know we have to be consistent for the whole campaign. If we were last season we could have gone for it but it wasn't to be.

"We know what we did wrong last season and we want to put it right and get off to a good start.

"We started gelling after Christmas last season, with a year behind us we can really progress and push on."

Bent scored against Stevenage two minutes after the interval and also earned a penalty for Keane's opener.

"He knows most of the players from international football anyway, he's been brilliant since he's come in," Keane said.

"He adds to the squad that we already have, we're looking to be a force this season.

"There is expectation on everyone, Darren Bent obviously because he's come for a lot of money. The squad and manager won't put pressure on him, he knows what he's capable of doing so he'll be okay."

Taken from =football365=