ROY Keane has admitted that he faces a battle to hold on to leading scorer Kenwyne Jones when the transfer window re-opens at the start of January.

Jones will look to make it four goals in four games when he travels to Eastlands to face Manchester City tonight, and successive recent strikes against Arsenal, West Ham and Fulham have made the Sunderland striker one of the most sought-after players in the Premier League.

Rafael Benitez is understood to have confirmed his interest in the Trinidad & Tobago international in a telephone call to Wearside last month, and sources on Merseyside claim the Liverpool manager is willing to engineer a swap deal involving England marksman Peter Crouch in order to land a player that cost the Black Cats £6m when he moved from Southampton in August.

Keane accepts that Jones' effortless transition to the Premier League has made him a valuable asset and, while chairman Niall Quinn will not exert any financial pressure to cash in on the 23-year-old, the Sunderland manager still expects a battle to retain his services.

"I think Kenwyne will become a marked man," said Keane, ahead of this evening's game which pits his Sunderland side against a Manchester City outfit boasting a 100 per cent home record this season. "He will be marked by his opponents and by managers who are looking for a big target man.

"If he continues in the form he's in, I would expect some calls. That shows the progress he has made in a short period. There are not that many big target men out there, so the fact he is quick and has a good touch makes it obvious people will identify him."

Despite only making his Sunderland debut seven games ago, Jones has already become integral to the club's prospects of surviving in the Premier League.

He has scored four of the Black Cats' last nine goals, with his eye-catching performance in last month's 3-1 defeat at West Ham underlining his ability to unsettle defences via both his aerial prowess and his footballing ability on the floor.

With Michael Chopra lacking Jones' height advantage, more and more of Sunderland's play is going through the Trinidadian.

But while Keane is understandably delighted at Jones' impact in the last two months, he has warned his players not to become over-reliant on their number one marksman. In terms of both approach play and goalscoring, Sunderland cannot afford to become a one-man team.

"We have to be careful not to put too much pressure on him," said Keane. "We have to remember that he's still a young player.

"He's new to the Premier League, but he has taken the responsibility on like a true man and that's what pleases me the most.

"He's been a big player for us since he came to the club, and in the last week or two in particular.

"When we were down to ten men against Fulham, he was a big plus for us. He put his body on the line for the team last week and he's an important player. That's why we brought him to the club, he's quick, he has a good touch and he's a physical presence as well.

"But the danger is that we expect too much, too soon from him. We shouldn't put too much pressure on such a young striker."

To his credit, Jones has remained level-headed despite the increased attention.

It would be hard to imagine a more laid-back character off the field, and talk of a possible move to Liverpool is met with little more than a shrug of the shoulders.

"The attention doesn't bother me," said Jones, who attributes his prodigious leaping ability to a former stint as a high jumper. "As fast as you get the attention, as fast as you can lose it. I'm not really bothered by it at all.

"And as for the pressure, I think there's pressure to perform on everyone's shoulders at the club. I don't think there's any more pressure on me than on anyone else at Sunderland."

The pressure will certainly be intense as the Black Cats look to claim their first Premier League away win since January 2006 tonight.

With both Greg Halford and Paul McShane suspended, Keane is expected to field Grant Leadbitter as an emergency right-back and name untried teenager Michael Kay on the bench.

Dwight Yorke is rated no better than 50-50 as he attempts to shake off a calf strain, so Graham Kavanagh returns to the squad just a week after completing a loan spell at Championship strugglers Sheffield Wednesday.

"You can see that Kav has had the benefit of the games," said Keane. "And he will come into contention for the City game. I have not brought him back to play in the reserves."

Two of Sunderland's Barclays Premier League games in January have been selected for the live TV cameras.

The Black Cats' first home game of the New Year against Portsmouth at the Stadium of Light has been changed to Sunday January 13, with kick-off at 1.30pm.

The second home game against Birmingham City on Tuesday January 29 has also been chosen for live transmission but the date for this fixture remains the same with a kick-off time of 8pm.