KEVIN Nolan is aiming to step up his claim for a place in Sam Allardyce's first 11 with another high tempo performance against the Greek champions Olympiakos at the Reebok on Saturday.

The England U21 midfielder is determined to be in the starting line-up for the Premiership opener at Manchester United next Saturday and believes he has already enhanced his chances with some committed pre-season performances.

But, after losing his first choice status last season, Nolan is taking nothing for granted.

"I'm not going to rest until I have done enough and I won't rest even when I have done enough," he said. "I'm just going to keep going and going."

After scoring in successive Old Trafford victories, Nolan is seen as a talisman by supporters who are hoping Wanderers can make it a hat-trick of derby triumphs over Sir Alex Ferguson's Champions.

He has already impressed Allardyce with his application and his performances after stepping up his fitness levels during the close-season and he has welcomed the chance to test his progress against a better class of opposition this week.

After featuring prominently in Wednesday night's scoreless draw against Spanish Cup winners Real Mallorca, he sees Olympiakos as ideal opponents for what will essentially be a final dress rehearsal for the United game.

"I'm happy with the progress I've made pre-season," Nolan added, "and I'm just looking forward now to getting into the swing of the season.

"It was a young side that Mallorca put out but it was a better standard than we've been playing against in earlier games and tomorrow we'll have another good test. After that we'll have another week to put things right on the training ground so that, hopefully, everything works out well at Old Trafford."

Allardyce is likely to field his strongest possible side against Olympiakos including Stelios Giannakopoulos, who joined Wanderers on a free transfer in May after helping the Athens club to their seventh successive championship title.

But the Wanderers' boss is expected to find a slot at some stage of the game to again run the rule over trialist Ibrahim Ba, the 29-year-old former French international wide attacker who has been freed by AC Milan.

The Olympiakos squad includes one-time Wanderers target Lambros Choutos - the 23-year-old striker who top scored in the Greek league last season.