Andy Murray has been warned the "pressure is all on his back" as the Great Britain Davis Cup team he leads into action against Israel this weekend bid to cement survival in the competition's Euro-Africa Group One.

The 19-year-old British No 1 and great hope for the future of the men's game in this country, makes only his fourth Davis Cup appearance in a side shorn of Greg Rusedski and Tim Henman.

Rusedski misses the Eastbourne clash with a hip injury while Henman has retired from team tennis.

World No 35 Murray who has stormed to prominence in the last two years with a string of impressive victories.

Back-to-back triumphs against American star Andy Roddick [2014] the most recent at Wimbledon less than a month ago [2014] Australia's Lleyton Hewitt and Henman mean he is expected to comfortably win both singles matches, against Israeli veterans Andy Ram and Noam Okun.

But thoughts of revenge are uppermost in the minds of the visitors who have arrived at Devonshire Park looking to overturn the defeat Britain meted out in Tel Aviv 16 months ago.

On that occasion Murray made his Davis Cup debut as a doubles player and, partnering David Sherwood, scored a shock triumph over the highly-rated pairing of Ram and Jonathan Erlich to inspire a 3-2 win.

Since then the Scot's talent and fighting spirit have earned a third round appearance in last year's US Open, before going one better at Wimbledon two weeks ago.

But Ram insisted: "If we have one advantage against Murray it is that he will have 5,000 people in Eastbourne expecting him to win against us.

"That is a great pressure and it is all on his back.

"We have come here to win this match and we intend to play our shots and make that pressure pay off for us."

Murray makes his first visit to East-bourne amid a wave of tight security following the Israeli bombings in Lebanon.

Murray said: "Playing my first match in the Davis Cup for my country at 17 was pretty cool and this a big deal also.

"But I've had quite a bit of experience between the two events and don't feel any more responsibility as No 1 player than any of the other guys.

"We win together and we lose together. That is our attitude."

Great Britain captain Jeremy Bates, who will see his team condemned to a relegation play-off against Ukraine in September if they lose to Israel, said: "It is an exciting tie for us and it doesn't feel strange not to have Tim or Greg around. This team has been picked on merit and they all deserve their places."

With Murray leading the charge, Britain are strong favourites but the key to the match could be held by domestic No 4 Alex Bogdanovic, who opens proceedings today against Okun, who beat him in straight sets in Tel Aviv and then pulled out of the clash with Serbia and Montenegro claiming he was not "ready for it".

Belgrade-born Bogdanovic, 22, said: "I'm a much better player now, winning a couple of Challengers early in the year and reaching a few quarter-finals."

Meanwhile, neither Murray - earmarked to partner Jamie Delgado in the doubles on Sunday - nor Bates are talking about the Dunblane youngster's much-documented future link-up with American coach Brad Gilbert.

However, Gilbert's appointment as Murray's new mentor - for which the LTA are said to be paying up to £500,000 - is expected to be formalised in a few days.