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Argentina international wing Gonzalo Camacho finally makes his first Premiership start for Leicester Tigers two and half years after joining
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Tigers prop Marcos Ayerza makes his 150th Premiership appearance
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Sarries make three changes from the side that won at Wasps on Boxing Day
Argentina international wing Gonzalo Camacho will finally make his first Premiership start for Leicester Tigers two and half years after joining the club in Saturday’s Aviva Premiership trip to Saracens.
Injury-hit Camacho, who made his Tigers debut as a replacement in the European win over Munster, is confirmed to start against the leaders at Allianz Park.
Owen Williams also returns to the matchday squad after recovering from a knee injury suffered in the first leg of the European back-to-back games against Munster.
Tigers prop Marcos Ayerza makes his 150th appearance in Premiership Rugby, while colleague Dan Cole is in line for his 100th game in the top flight with a place among the replacements.
Meanwhile, Saracens have made three changes to the starting line-up as boss Mark McCall continues to rotate.
Marcelo Bosch comes in at centre while Charlie Hodgson replaced Owen Farrell at fly-half and Schalk Brits comes in at hooker with Jamie George reverting to the bench.
KEY STATS
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Saracens have won their last 14 first team matches since the 10th May when Exeter beat them at Allianz Park in Aviva Premiership Rugby
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Leicester Tigers have won their last seven matches in all tournaments since going down to Exeter at Sandy Park in round 4 of Premiership Rugby
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The Tigers only victory in their last seven encounters with Saracens in all competitions was 31-27 at Welford Road in round 22 of Premiership Rugby last season – this sequence does include two drawn games
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Leicester have lost on both of their previous visits to Allianz Park
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Saracens: Alex Goode
Leicester: Telusa Veainu
Saracens: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Marcelo Bosch, 12 Brad Barritt (c), 11 Chris Wyles, 10 Charlie Hodgson, 9 Richard Wigglesworth, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 Will Fraser, 6 Michael Rhodes, 5 George Kruis, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Petrus Du Plessis, 2 Schalk Brits, 1 Mako Vunipola.
Replacements: 16 Jamie George, 17 Rhys Gill, 18 Titi Lamositele, 19 Jim Hamilton, 20 Jackson Wray, 21 Neil De Kock, 22 Owen Farrell, 23 Duncan Taylor.
Leicester: 15 Telusa Veainu, 14 Gonzalo Camacho, 13 Mathew Tait, 12 Seremaia Bai, 11 Vereniki Goneva, 10 Freddie Burns, 9 Sam Harrison, 8 Laurence Pearce, 7 Tom Croft, 6 Ed Slater (c), 5 Graham Kitchener, 4 Dom Barrow, 3 Fraser Balmain, 2 Harry Thacker, 1 Marcos Ayerza.
Replacements: 16 Tom Youngs, 17 Logovi’i Mulipola, 18 Dan Cole, 19 Mike Fitzgerald, 20 Lachlan McCaffrey, 21 Ben Youngs, 22 Owen Williams, 23 Adam Thompstone.
Date: Saturday, January 2
Venue: Allianz Park
Kick-off: 15:15 GMT
Referee: Gregory Garner
Assistant Referees: Paul Dix, Peter Huckle
TMO: Graham Hughes