Keane's Newcastle counterpart Kevin Keegan sparked a major debate this week when he highlighted the gap between big four of Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool and the rest of English football's top division.

However, while he admits it would take years for another club to break into the top four, he is adamant that should be no limit to what the rest can set as targets.

The Black Cats have a final chance this season to test themselves against one of the aristocrats when Arsenal head for the Stadium of Light on Sunday.

> > Click here to join our Football Forum and have your say on this story and read the other posts

There will be little pressure on Keane's men other than that imposed by the manager as he starts to turn his attention towards next season and the latest phase of his plan for the club.

But while he knows they cannot compete with the big boys on a sustained basis just yet, he has his targets.

He said: "We all have different challenges. We can't compare ourselves to the Arsenals or the (Manchester) Uniteds or anything like that.

"But we certainly want to be competing with the teams ahead of us, and when I say ahead of us I would be looking at the likes of Manchester City, Blackburn, Portsmouth.

"They have all had to invest pretty wisely as well. But you want to be challenging those teams, and certainly do better in the cups.

"If you feel you can't challenge the top boys for the league, you certainly want to do better for the cups."

Keane spent heavily last summer and in January - to the tune of around £44m - in the wake of securing promotion to the top flight, and has already indicated he might require a similar sum this time around to build upon what he and his players have achieved this season.

He does not agree with Keegan that the big four's dominance could make the Premier League boring, but admits success breeds success both on and off the pitch.

Keane said: "I don't think that's boring for Chelsea, Manchester and Liverpool and those teams who are trying to win championships.

"But it just makes it very, very hard for us because every year, they are in the Champions League and every year, they are getting an extra £20m, £30m, £40m that the other clubs aren't getting.

"It's obvious they are going to get stronger and buy the bigger and the best players.

"The best example would have been last year: United won the league last year and before the week had finished, they had signed three players for £50m, and they had just won the league."

> > Take part in our web vote.