Bitter rivals Gloucester and Bath are in agreement about at least one thing ahead of tomorrow's crunch Zurich Premiership encounter at the Rec that the Cherry & Whites position at the top of the table means absolutely nothing.

Rampant Gloucester top the pile, having racked up nearly 150 points in their four Premiership encounters so far and are tipped by many as the side most likely to succeed Leicester as league champions.

Bath, in contrast, have just one win to their names and have amassed just two tries so far.

But both camps are playing down the significance of the gap of nine league positions and 12 points between them as they go into what is likely to be a fiercely-contested derby.

Cherry & Whites skipper Phil Vickery (left) said: "We are sitting on top of the league, but in local derbies the form book goes out of the window. They are always special games.

"Bath will not fear anything about us going down there, but we shouldn't worry about what they are doing.''

Bath lock forward Andy Beattie is of a similar opinion, adding: "We saw the tapes of the Bristol game and they are on the front foot. But it's a chance for us to knock them down.''

Gloucester have never won a Premiership match at the Rec although Vickery was part of a victorious Tetley's Bitter Cup side in 2000.

It's a record Beattie hopes to maintain, adding: "Hopefully, they are not going to start this weekend. We're confident, we've trained hard and if we can get those things right on the pitch then we can do well.

"Personally, from my point of view, I'm looking forward to this game and putting right what happened against Northampton.

"We didn't show what we could do. We have a lot more to offer and we aim to show that tomorow.''

Vickery added: "When I was growing up, Bath were always the team to beat, they had some fantastic players and quite rightly won a lot of silverware.

"This weekend, we have to focus on our jobs and our performance. If we get it right we will win, if not, then we will get beaten and get beaten well.''

Gloucester's stunning form is such that director of rugby Nigel Melville has already named an unchanged squad from the one that shunted the Shoguns aside 45-19 last week.

That means hat-trick hero Marcel Garvey, once courted by Bath, may be handed the chance to showcase his talents in the hot-house atmosphere of a sell-out Rec.

But Melville has also hinted at re-introducing another man destined to cause Bath problems, wing James Simpson-Daniel.

"We have not seen much of Simpson-Daniel so far but on a wide pitch like Bath is, I am sure we can put some pressure on them,'' said Melville.

Bath meanwhile, still have nagging doubts over several players and are likely to delay naming their line-up.

Kevin Maggs is representing Ireland in the World Cup qualifer against Georgia and there are still doubts over his fellow centres Mike Tindall and Mike Catt. Scrum-half Gareth Cooper, who like Tindall limped out of last weekend's Northampton loss, is another causing concern.

First team coach Brian Smith said: "Catty is going to be touch and go and so is Cooper. Getting Catty back would be a luxury, but we've prepared ourselves.''

Gloucester from: Forwards: Olivier Azam, Jake Boer, Pete Buxton, Mark Cornwell, Andy Deacon, Rob Fidler, James Forrester, Chris Forey, Junior Paramore, Ed Pearce, Phil Vickery (capt), Trevor Woodman; Backs: Tom Beim, Thinus Delport, Terry Fanolua, Marcel Garvey, Andy Gomarsall, Ludovic Mercier, Henry Paul, James Simpson-Daniel, Clive Stuart-Smith, Robert Todd.