Wanderers were beaten 3-1 by Newcastle at the Reebok Stadium on the opening day of last season, and Nolan is keen to avoid a repeat when Stoke are the visitors.

He told the club's official website: "Last year after half an hour we were 3-0 down, so it is important to get a good start and not get carried away with the moment.

"Stoke, who are coming up from the Championship, are going to be buzzing because they are playing in the Premier League for the first time. Hopefully we can ride that out in the first 20 minutes, win the battle and proceed from there.

"We have got the armoury and weapons to do that because it is all about making the Reebok a fortress. We showed signs last year that we were getting that back but then there were a few teams who came back here and got off lightly - that's one thing that we have got to put right this year.

"Every team that comes to the Reebok has got to work their socks off to make sure that they get a point, never mind three."