Leicester Tigers v Northampton Saints: Full team news for Saturday's game
Tom Pearson will make his first appearance of the Gallagher PREM season when Saints travel to Leicester Tigers on Saturday afternoon (kick-off 3.05pm).
Pearson has not featured since the pre-season win against Black Lion due to a hand problem, but he recently returned to training and will wear the No.7 shirt at Mattioli Woods Welford Road.
Alex Coles returns from being rested last weekend as he starts and makes his 150th Saints appearance, lining up alongside Ed Prowse in the second row.
Manny Iyogun, Henry Pollock and Tommy Freeman were also rested for the 28-12 Investec Champions Cup win against Cardiff Rugby last Sunday, but they all start against Leicester.
Fin Smith was on the bench last weekend, but he returns at fly-half for this clash, with Anthony Belleau not in the squad as Saints opt for a 6:2 split on a bench that includes the names of Archie McParland and Ollie Sleightholme.
Fraser Dingwall is back in at centre as he replaces Toby Thame and skippers the side.
Ben Alexander, Trevor Davison, Malik Faissal, Luke Green, Tom Litchfield, Aidan Pugh, Edoardo Todaro and Lefty Zigiriadis are unavailable this weekend.
For Tigers, Solomone Kata returns from injury to start at inside centre, with Gabriel Hamer-Webb and Jack van Poortvliet also coming into the backline to replace Ollie Hassell-Collins and Tom Whiteley respectively.
In the forward pack, Joe Heyes joins Archie van der Flier and Jamie Blamire, who retain their places in the front row, while the second row make-up of Cameron Henderson and captain Ollie Chessum remains unchanged.
Aaron Wainwright comes back into the starting line-up in the back row, with Finn Carnduff moving to openside flanker. Olly Cracknell is the No.8.
Amongst the replacements are George Pearson and new signing Richie Asiata, who is primed to make his Leicester debut.
Former Saints hooker Charlie Clare and Wales flanker Tommy Reffell are among the names on the Tigers injured list.
Leicester Tigers: 15 Freddie Steward; 14 Adam Radwan, 13 Will Wand, 12 Solomone Kata, 11 Gabriel Hamer-Webb; 10 Billy Searle, 9 Jack van Poortvliet; 1 Archie van der Flier, 2 Jamie Blamire, 3 Joe Heyes; 4 Cameron Henderson, 5 Ollie Chessum (c); 6 Aaron Wainwright, 7 Finn Carnduff, 8 Olly Cracknell.
Replacements: 16 Richie Asiata, 17 Tarek Haffar, 18 Will Hurd, 19 James Thompson, 20 Joaquin Moro, 21 Tom Whiteley, 22 Orlando Bailey, 23 George Pearson.
Saints: 15 James Pater; 14 Tommy Freeman, 13 Rory Hutchinson, 12 Fraser Dingwall (c), 11 George Hendy; 10 Fin Smith, 9 Alex Mitchell; 1 Emmanuel Iyogun, 2 Curtis Langdon, 3 Cleopas Kundiona; 4 Alex Coles, 5 Ed Prowse; 6 Josh Kemeny, 7 Tom Pearson, 8 Henry Pollock.
Replacements: 16 Robbie Smith, 17 Danilo Fischetti, 18 Ion Neculai, 19 JJ van der Mescht, 20 Tom Lockett, 21 Callum Chick, 22 Archie McParland, 23 Ollie Sleightholme.