Youngs has recovered from a knee injury to make appearances from the bench in the last two weeks, but now makes his first starting appearance in the sell-out clash with local rivals Saints in Aviva Premiership Rugby Round 10.
The only other changes from the team that beat Gloucester at Kingsholm last week are in the back row where Steve Mafi and Julian Salvi are included alongside Thomas Waldrom in place of Tom Croft and Ben Woods.
Director of rugby Richard Cockerill said: “It’s great to see Ben Youngs back on the field. He’s a world-class player and has looked sharp in his work over the last few weeks. Sam Harrison has had a run in the team and has done a really good job too.
“Crofty took a bit of a knock at Gloucester so we’ve kept him out. It’s nothing serious, but Steve Mafi has been in good form too and he brings his own strengths to that position.”
All 24,000 tickets for the game sold out more than two weeks in advance and a cracking atmosphere is in prospect for the first derby match of the season.
“It’s one of those fixtures everyone looks for right at the start of the season, the players love to be involved in the big occasions and both sets of supporters will be up for it too,” said Cockerill.
“Saints had a big win last weekend and we know their qualities. We had a good win at Kingsholm and it sets up everything for a big game in front of a capacity crowd on Saturday.”
Leicester Tigers (v Northampton Saints, Welford Road, Saturday 2.15pm)
15 Geordan Murphy (c)
14 Horacio Agulla
13 Matt Smith
12 Billy Twelvetrees
11 Alesana Tuilagi
10 Toby Flood
9 Ben Youngs
1 Marcos Ayerza
2 George Chuter
3 Dan Cole
4 Louis Deacon
5 George Skivington
6 Steve Mafi
7 Julian Salvi
8 Thomas Waldrom
Replacements
16 Rob Hawkins
17 Boris Stankovich
18 Martin Castrogiovanni
19 Ed Slater
20 Ben Woods
21 Sam Harrison
22 Jeremy Staunton
23 Scott Hamilton
Northampton Saints: 15 Ben Foden,14 Chris Ashton, 13 George Pisi, 12 Tom May, 11 Jamie Elliott, 10 Ryan Lamb, 9 Lee Dickson; 1 Soane Tonga'uiha, 2 Dylan Hartley (c), 3 Brian Mujati, 4 Courtney Lawes, 5 Mark Sorenson, 6 Phil Dowson, 7 Tom Wood, 8 Roger Wilson. Reps: 16 Mike Haywood, 17 Alex Waller,18 Paul Doran Jones, 19 Samu Manoa, 20 Ben Nutley, 21 Martin Roberts, 22 Stephen Myler, 23 Jon Clarke
