UNBEATEN Exeter Chiefs will look to an unlikely source for inspiration ahead of their top-of-the-table clash with Nottingham at Leicester's Welford Road tomorrow (4.15pm).

Last week, Devon rivals Plymouth Albion became only the second team to beat Nottingham this season. The Cornish Pirates were the first on the opening day of the Championship campaign.

Nottingham's phobia of Westcountry sides will be hindered further by the need to play tomorrow's game away from their usual base at Meadow Lane. Landlords Notts County have home commitments in the FA Cup – now due to take place tonight – and Nottingham Forest play Bristol City at home on Saturday.

The Chiefs will be keen to take advantage of any state of flux residing within a Nottingham side that Graham Dawe's Albion side beat more comprehensively than the 31-25 scoreline suggests last week.

Baxter has studied the footage from that game. He said: "I watched the Albion game on DVD. It was a good game of rugby and I think people are aware that Nottingham have had a little bit of an inconsistent squad because of injuries and dual-registrations.

"That's always been the case for them, but we're expecting a well-drilled challenge. Nottingham turned up at Plymouth and had a bad day and got punished – that's the standard of the teams in the Championship. But they'll be wanting to put that right on Saturday.

"For us, it's not so much about replicating other people's gameplan. It's about doing you're own gameplan very well – that's what we've done all season and that's what we'll do again."

And as Baxter notes, even though Nottingham play as the home side, their home field advantage will be lost.

He said: "Playing at Welford Road has added a nice little bit of focus. I think the players are looking forward to that experience. I think it is a bit like going to a neutral venue.

"For us it's not massively different to any other game we play this week. We've approached every game in a very professional manner, with great enthusiasm. All credit to the players, they are buying into what we're trying to do and enjoying how we're playing. We've had a really good training week."

One Chief who knows Welford Road particularly well is centre Matt Cornwell. The former Leicester Tigers back progressed through their academy and on to the first team.

He played in 30 Premiership games in the four years he spent in the first team squad and captained the side for one cup game. He also led the second team to A league victory in 2005-06 and to the final in 2006-07.

Cornwell said: "I am really looking forward to going back up there. All the family are coming to watch. They won't have to travel three-and-a-half hours down the M5 this time!

"This game will be very, very hard. Everyone knows how well Nottingham have been playing. Hopefully both teams can create a great spectacle.

"We have had a great start to the season. We have not made too many mistakes but we are not getting too ahead of ourselves."

Nottingham captain Craig Hammond, meanwhile, is expecting a response from his side after the disappointing performance at Brickfields against Plymouth.

Speaking to his club's official website, he said: "We didn't deserve to win, but we can't play like that going into Exeter on Saturday.

"The boys need to concentrate on our gameplan and work together and it will come against Exeter. To be honest, it's not teams like Exeter that we worry about playing because we know what to expect from them. Teams like Plymouth are the ones you can slip up against and that's what we did last Saturday."

Baxter has balanced the need to share the workload and maintain continuity well this season and has opted to tweak rather than reinvent his starting XV this weekend.

Simon Alcott takes over from Neil Clark at hooker, while Ben Moon and James Hanks will join Clark on the bench with Ruaidhri Murphy and Sean Tomes making way.

"We're not going to make a lot of changes, we're pretty fresh," said Baxter. "We've managed to share a fair bit of game-time around. If we win our next couple of games we will have beaten everybody. I think that's become a little bit of a focus for the squad. With Nottingham being such a challenging game we'll have to focus and continue the hard work."

Exeter Chiefs: E Lewis; M Jess, P Dollman, M Cornwell, M Foster; G Steenson, H Thomas; B Sturgess, S Alcott, C Budgen; C Bentley, T Hayes (capt); C Slade, J Scaysbrook, R Baxter. Replacements: D Gray, P McKenzie, C Stuart-Smith, Moon, J Hanks, N Clark, Alan Miller.