LONDON (Reuters) - Roy Keane returns to Old Trafford and his former club Manchester United on Saturday hoping that his Sunderland side does not experience a nightmare afternoon at the "Theatre of Dreams".

After a good start to the season when they beat Tottenham Hotspur and drew with Birmingham City, Sunderland have lost their last three games, culminating in a shock 3-0 defeat at League One Luton Town in the second round of the League Cup on Tuesday.

Keane has reacted swiftly to the loss of form and signed Kenwyne Jones from Southampton, his former United colleague Danny Higginbotham from Stoke City and free agent Ian Harte, a former Republic of Ireland colleague, for a total cost of around £9 million ($18.16 million).

However, the club are likely to be without skipper Dean Whitehead for most of the rest of the season after he damaged his cruciate ligament in training earlier this month.

The champions kickstarted their season when they beat Spurs for their first win of the campaign last weekend and United should pick up another three points against Sunderland.

United, however, will not play striker Wayne Rooney on Saturday even though the England striker has told boss Alex Ferguson he was fit after recovering from the metatarsal break he suffered against Reading on the first day of the season.

While United have started the season slowly, Chelsea have dropped just two points from their opening four matches and travel to Aston Villa as the early front runners.

Didier Drogba, Claudio Pizarro and Florent Malouda all missed training with minor injuries on Wednesday but should be fit for the visit to Villa, who gave themselves a confidence-booster with a 5-0 League Cup win at League Two Wrexham on Tuesday.

Villa boss Martin O'Neill boosted his defence by signing Zat Knight from Fulham for £3.5 million on Wednesday and he should be in the squad for the game.

While Chelsea top the table with 10 points, Manchester City, nine, Wigan Athletic, Liverpool, Everton and Arsenal, all on seven points, have also started well.

Liverpool, who looked impressive in their 4-0 win over Toulouse in a Champions League qualifier this week, face bottom of the table Derby County, whose poor start to the season continued when they lost on penalties to second division Blackpool in the League Cup on Tuesday.

Arsenal also qualified for the Champions League with ease, beating Sparta Prague 3-0 at the Emirates on Wednesday, but Portsmouth, who narrowly lost 1-0 to Chelsea last week, should provide far more resilient opposition.

Across London at Fulham, Arsenal's arch-rivals Spurs will be hoping for a win at Craven Cottage following their poor start to the season which contributed to the drama at White Hart Lane last week which undermined the future of coach Martin Jol.

Jol's job appears to be safe for now and a win over Fulham, who are two places lower than Spurs in 19th place, would be the perfect preparation for Spurs who face Arsenal in the north London derby next week.