Newcastle have lost their last 20 league games, but Rob Baxter thinks that puts the pressure on his Exeter Chiefs players ahead of Sunday's match.
While the visitors will be odds-on favourites to win at Kingston Park, Baxter knows what will be going through the minds of the Falcons players.
This time last week the talk was that Exeter had only won one league match at home in 2014, and they responded with a 36-13 defeat of Harlequins.
So the head coach is expecting the hosts to be fired up to stop people talking about their shocking run of form.
To cope with that, he wants to ensure his players' desire to push on in the league – a win would probably leave the Chiefs in the top three – surpasses Newcastle's hunger to record a rare victory.
"I think if anything it (Newcastle's run) puts a bit of pressure on us," said Baxter.
"Look at the weekend we've just had – all of the talk was that Exeter couldn't win at home and we produced a very good performance.
"It's all very well people saying Newcastle can't win a game of rugby but the truth is they can win a game of rugby and it's going to happen at some stage.
"We've got to make sure we put in a level of performance that deserves a result. When we do that we tend to get what we want out of matches, but we're aware every game of Premiership rugby has to be won.
"The battle for us is to make sure the ambition to be at the right end of the table is a bigger driving force for us than Newcastle's ambition to get a win and get themselves away from the bottom of the table.
"That's always the first battle you have to win. You can't win any other battle until you win the energy, endeavour and toughness battles and I have told the players that a lot this week.
"We won that battle against Harlequins and when you win that battle you give other parts of your game a chance to develop and come to the fore."
Sunday's game promises to be a special one for Baxter as it will be his 500th league match as a player or coach with the Chiefs.
He made 275 appearances as a player – from his debut as an 18-year-old at Nuneaton in October 1989 until marking his final game with a try at Rotherham in April 2005 – and has been involved in various coaching capacities since January 2006.
The best present for the boss would be a fourth win out of five attempts this season.
But Baxter's troops will have to contend with something different at Kingston Park as Newcastle had an artificial surface installed over the summer.
It is nothing new for the Chiefs as they have played on similar surfaces against Saracens and Cardiff Blues in the past, as well as having one to train on at Sandy Park, but Baxter admits it will come into their planning this week.
"It is a factor to a degree because you know it's going to be relatively firm under foot and the way the ball can bounce can be a little bit different," he said. "For the kickers the ball doesn't tend to skid as much but it will bounce and roll. There are some variations but nothing that should affect the way we prepare for the game."
While Baxter has no fresh injury concerns for the match, he hopes scrum-half Haydn Thomas will be available after a blow to his head ruled him out of last weekend's match.
Other injured players are also close to returning.
"Luke Cowan-Dickie and Dave Lewis are joining in with some parts of rugby training this week, and Dean Mumm will do some rugby elements next week, so we are starting to get guys back," said Baxter
