Nuremberg have not been beaten by Bavarian rivals Augsburg in over 25 years but that is no guarantee of success at the Frankenstadion , according to their coach Dieter Hecking.

Augsburg’s last win over Nuremberg dates back to 1976 but Hecking is worried such statistics could lull his team into a false sense of security.

They have already lost their last four matches and desperately need to bounce back tomorrow.

“You know, I am not a fan of statistics,” he said in the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper.

“The Bild newspaper also wrote that we are up against our favourite opponents, but that just lifts the expectations.

“Augsburg are different this season. Of course we want to win, but I am not relying on the statistics for that.”

Instead, Hecking is counting on his side getting back to the form they showed in their first four games of the season.

“That includes our 2-1 defeat to Frankfurt because they should have been down to 10 men in the 19th minute, then it would have been different,” he said.

“After that, we never failed collectively, it has always been individual mistakes which have led to defeats.

“Only in the 3-0 defeat to Freiburg were we really bad and that performance was not on.”

Augsburg coach Markus Weinzierl would have no qualms about them repeating that performance tomorrow, though.

“We have a big chance to overtake Nuremberg and become Bavaria’s second strongest team,” he said.

Weinzierl is reluctant to recall Simon Jentzsch to his starting XI after the regular number one recovered from injury.

Instead, he will take his place on the bench since “he still needs time and match practice.”

Mohamed Amsif will stand between the posts again as Augsburg look to build on four points in their last two games.