EXETER Chiefs may have paid Coventry's travel expenses ahead of their Championship clash at Sandy Park tomorrow (3pm), but the visitors can expect little charity on the pitch from Rob Baxter's men.

The Chiefs may have suffered their first defeat of the 2009-10 season during the British & Irish Cup against Newport last month, but they are still unbeaten and leading the way in the Championship.

"I suppose it is a bit different this week with it being in the news about Coventry's problems," said Baxter. "But as far as preparing for the game and how we've approached the week, we haven't changed anything.

"Other than the obvious issues with the press and the questions that we get asked, it's very much business as usual. This season is all about tough league fixtures, it wasn't knocked down to 12 teams to make it easier.

"Every fixture is tough. Whatever happens with Coventry in terms of points deductions, they are still in with a chance of finishing in the top eight and that's what they'll be aiming to do."

The Chiefs' last fixture was perhaps as close as they have come to surrendering that 100-per-cent league record. The ever-improving Doncaster Knights pushed the Chiefs to the wire last weekend – the league leaders emerged with a narrow 14-9 win only after a late try from Chris Budgen.

Coventry are likely to put up just as much resistance having demonstrated that they are still up for the fight despite their off-the-field problems. They forced a 15-15 draw with the Bedford Blues last weekend at home and have managed to grind out two wins on the road from five away trips.

Baxter said: "Their incentive is to show that they are a good bunch of players. They are professional rugby players and they will want to showcase themselves for other potential contracts or to make sure, if there is a potential investor at Coventry, they'll be kind of players wanted by the new people in charge.

"There are all kinds of reasons for them to play well. We don't know about their culture at the club, but if they enjoy playing together and they are a good group of mates they won't let each other down. They will stick at it and play as well as they can, that's what sport is all about and it's what everyone played for before they went professional in rugby."

The Chiefs achieved a hard-fought win over Coventry at the Butts Park Arena earlier in the season. Only a late James Scaysbrook try, converted by Gareth Steenson, prevent the home side from gaining a losing bonus point in September.

Baxter said: "We're aware that they are a useful side an we've got to prepare well and look to get another decent result at home. We went up to Coventry and played very well in the first half and lost our way a little bit in the second half which allowed them to come back a little bit. It was earlier in the season, away on a Friday night and we were pretty satisfied with our performance at that stage of the season."

The Chiefs have made seven changes to their starting XV. In the backs, Sean Marsden comes in at full-back for Emyr Lewis, Mark Foster concedes his place on the wing to Paul McKenzie and Danny Gray takes over at fly-half from Gareth Steenson.

Ben Moon, Simon Alcott, Andy Miller and Tom Johnson come into the forward line-up at the expense of Brett Sturgess, Neil Clark, Scaysbrook and Richard Baxter. There is no place in the match-day squad for new Ireland A lock David Gannon.

Baxter concedes that a lot of changes can negatively impact performance, but the ability of his squad to still get results has been a major positive this season.

He said: "It does affect the performances on occasion. You do sacrifice a little bit of team cohesion when you make a lot of changes – that's not something we're not ignorant to.

"We're always looking to get positives out of the season, and I think so far, it has been that we can get through a lot of the season keeping your squad fresh and yet ready to play – that should set us up well for the latter part of the season."

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