The inclusion of the Italy international at tighthead prop, with Dan Cole named among the replacements, is the only change to the starting line-up following the away leg last week, which Perpignan won 24-19.
England international Julian White is brought in among the replacements as another option in the front row.
Tigers top Pool 5 with 11 points, just one ahead of Perpignan and the Scarlets, with two rounds remaining after this weekend.
“This was always going to be a tight pool and every point is very important,” said Tigers director of rugby Richard Cockerill.
“We expect another big performance from Perpignan and we need to match that mentally and physically, we need to have our attitude spot-on and we need the home crowd behind us.
“We knew there would be times over there when we were under a huge amount of pressure and we’d have to dig deep and get ourselves out of a hole. We showed great resilience and commitment.”
Tickets for Sunday’s game are available now from the Tigers ticket office. Phone the hotline on 0844 856 1880, call in at Welford Road ticket office (open until 5pm Friday, 9am-5pm Saturday and from 9am Sunday) or book online by clicking here
The Tigers Christmas market is open from 10am outside the Caterpillar Stand, with the free Santa’s grotto open from 11am. The Final Whistle public bar opens at 11.30am and the Tigers Club Shop will be open all day, including shirt printing in the marquee at the Christmas market.
Leicester Tigers (v USA perpignan, Welford Road, Sunday 3pm)
15 Geordan Murphy (c)
14 Scott Hamilton
13 Matt Smith
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 Julian White
18 Dan Cole
19 Ed Slater
20 Steve Mafi
21 James Grindal
22 Jeremy Staunton
23 Manu Tuilagi
USA Perpignan: 15 Joffrey Michel, 14 Farid Sid, 13 David Marty, 12 Maxime Mermoz, 11 Adrien Plante, 10 Nicolas Laharrague, 9 David Mele ; 1 Perry Freshwater, 2 Marius Tincu, 3 Nicolas Mas (c), 4 Rimas Alvarez Kairelis, 5 Olivier Olibeau, 6 Gregory Le Corvec, 7 Jean-Pierre Perez, 8 Henry Tuilagi. Reps : 16 Charles Geli, 17 Kisi Pulu, 18 Benoit Bourrust, 19 Ovidiu Tonita, 20 Robins Tchale Watchou, 21 Damien Chouly, 22 Florian Cazenave, 23 Manny Edmonds
