IT IS eight years since Edinburgh last won five successive games, so the fact that they are on the verge of doing it again, outright and obvious favourites when they play Benetton Treviso tonight, should be proof that the good times are rolling again.

The statistics, however, come with a big red klaxon of a warning. The wins covering the end of the Andy Robinson era in 2009 and the start of Rob Moffat taking over the following season included victories over Leinster and the Ospreys. They were part of a run that lasted nine games and included finishing second in the league before Robinson became the last coach to leave Edinburgh on his own terms when he took over Scotland.

There is no comparison to the current run, with only the end-of-season win over Glasgow Warriors in May counting as a notable scalp. Yet, coincidentally with another English coach at the helm, here they are, on the verge of matching that feat.

They are, after all, facing Italian opposition, one of only three teams to finish below them last season, who have not won a league match outside their home country since 2013 and have not won in Edinburgh since 2012. History says walkover.

You might think Richard Cockerill, the head coach, agrees with that since he has made six changes to his winning side, only one the result of injury with Stuart McInally, the hooker, being given the game off to recover from a gash on his ear. As Cockerill admitted, however, with Ross Ford, Scotland's most capped player, on standby to replace him, he might have been tempted to make the change anyway.

The rest, he insisted are the need to rotate, with key players such as Anton Bresler, the lock, plus John Hardie and Cornell du Preez, the back rows, needing game time to keep them sharp as they head into tough away fixtures at the Scarlets and Leinster. More surprising is his decision to rest WP Nel, with Simon Berghan replacing him, and Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, who swaps places with Nathan Fowles.

"We’ve got some depth in certain positions and I want to keep the squad fresh, but also try to build some combinations and get game time for the guys,” Cockerill explained. "I’ve got a rough idea of what I think my best 15 is, but that’s still a little bit fluid at the moment because I’m getting to know my players in live action.

"There’s lots of guys putting their hands up. We can’t play the same 15 guys every week: we need to rotate, and build combinations, and there’s a balance to that. Hopefully more guys will put their hands up to be picked and we’ll get more competition for places.”

History also holds a dire warning for him. The last time Edinburgh won four successive games was in 2015, when everybody was weakened by the PRO12's clash with the Rugby World Cup. That run came to a shuddering halt when they were beaten by Zebre – Alan Solomons, the coach at the time, lasted another year as head coach but that was the beginning of the end for him.

The danger of complacency in one of the few games that Edinburgh go into as favourites is something Cockerill is well aware of and has done all he can to guard against.

"It’s certainly been [discussed] in every meeting we’ve had this week, around what we’re doing and how we’re training after last week’s performance, where large parts were very good but other parts were not at the level we expect," he said. "If we play as well as we can, we should win, but that’s not always the case in sport. We need to be right on it.

"We have to live with that pressure [of being favourites], it's a good pressure to have. To be fair, the majority of games we are going to go in as underdogs I suppose. We have to turn up and perform.

"We're expected to win so we have to make sure we deliver. That's just normal for me. The lads have to make sure they don't just turn up and wait to see how good Treviso are before we decide how we're going to play."

Edinburgh: B Kinghorn; D Hoyland, C Dean, R Fruean, J Harries; D Weir, N Fowles; M Rizzo, R Ford, S Berghan, A Bresler, B Toolis, M Bradbury (C), J Hardie, C du Preez. Replacements: N Cochrane, D Marfo, W Nel, F McKenzie, H Watson, S Hidalgo-Clyne, J Tovey, J Rasolea.

Benetton Treviso: J Hayward; A Esposito, A Sgarbi, T Allan, T Benvenuti; I McKinley, E Gori; A De Marchi. E Makelara, T Pasquali, M Lazzaroni, F Ruzza, F Minto, A Steyn, S Budd (C). Replacements: F Zani, C Traore, S Ferrari, M Fuser, M Barbini, G Bronzini, L Sperandio, M Zanon.

Referee: D Wilkinson (Ireland)