Welford Road is a 24,000 sell-out for the East Midlands derby, which pitches top-of-the-table Tigers against second-placed Saints.
Tigers director of rugby Richard Cockerill said: “They are always keenly-fought games, the local rivalry is there and also the two teams are up at the top of the table.
“Saints are a good side, they’ve been in good form across the season, they’ve been the best side in the Premiership without a doubt. They lost at home last week and that will not have gone down well there. They are a good team and will punish you if you are not at the top of your game.
“We have come through the autumn international and Christmas periods pretty well and we pride ourselves on our consistency.
“It will be an interesting battle.”
Tigers make three changes to the pack where Martin Castrogiovanni is named in the front row, George Skivington is selected at lock and Thomas Waldrom returns to the back row. The only change in the backs sees fly-half Toby Flood make his first start since the Heineken Cup fixture away to Perpignan in December.
They replace Dan Cole, Ed Slater, Steve Mafi and Jeremy Staunton respectively, who take their place among the replacements.
Leicester Tigers (vs Northampton Saints, Welford Road, Saturday, January 8, 5pm)
15 Geordan Murphy (c)
14 Matt Smith
13 Manu Tuilagi
12 Anthony Allen
11 Alesana Tuilagi
10 Toby Flood
9 Ben Youngs
1 Marcos Ayerza
2 George Chuter
3 Martin Castrogiovanni
4 Louis Deacon
5 George Skivington
6 Thomas Waldrom
7 Craig Newby
8 Jordan Crane
Replacements
16 Rob Hawkins
17 Dan Cole
18 Julian White
19 Ed Slater
20 Steve Mafi
21 James Grindal
22 Jeremy Staunton
23 Horacio Agulla
Northampton Saints: 15 Ben Foden, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Jon Clarke, 12 James Downey, 11 Paul Diggin, 10 Stephen Myler, 9 Ryan Powell, 1 Soane Tonga’uiha, 2 Dylan Hartley (c), 3 Brian Mujati, 4 Courtney Lawes, 5 Christian Day, 6 Phil Dowson, 7 Tom Wood, 8 Roger Wilson Replacements: 16 Brett Sharman, 17 Regardt Dreyer, 18 Tom Mercey, 19 Mark Sorenson, 20 Calum Clark, 21 Stuart Commins, 22 Shane Geraghty, 23 Joe Ansbro
