Sunderland's new signing will come up against his former team Liverpool in Saturday's Barclays Premier League opener at the Stadium of Light.

Manager Roy Keane has moved to strengthen his squad over the summer with the likes of Steed Malbranque and Pascal Chimbonda arriving and Diouf believes his side have nothing to fear when they face the Reds next Saturday.

He said: "We have to believe we can beat them. When I was at Bolton we had good results against some big teams at home and we can do the same at Sunderland.

"The manager is building a team with character and he has signed some good footballers, I believe we can do well.

"I have been here a few weeks now and everyone is working hard to get on with each other on and off the pitch and I think that is very important to the club.

"I want that to continue because you have to have that if you are to achieve that in football, especially against the bigger clubs that you play."