The return of Flood is the only change in the starting line-up from last week’s Aviva Premiership win over London Irish as Tigers reach the milestone of 100 matches in the Heineken Cup.
Richard Cockerill, Tigers director of rugby, said: “Like ourselves, Perpignan have a proud home record and we’re expecting a big, physical battle.
“We’ve won our opening two games in this competition, but Perpignan could be level with us if they win this weekend, so there’s everything to play for.
“We have been playing some good stuff and our defence has been good, but we know this is going to be a massive challenge.
“We had a good win at London Irish last week which helps in terms of confidence, and now we have to turn up and show how much this one means to us.”
Following his return from injury, Louis Deacon has been added to the list of players registered for Europe and will make his 49th Heineken Cup appearance as he continues in the same forward pack that started against Irish last week.
The return fixture against Perpignan is at Welford Road next Sunday (December 19, 3pm) and tickets are available now. Phone the Tigers ticket hotline on 0844 856 1880, call in at the ticket office (8.30am-5pm weekdays, until 8pm on Wednesday and 9am-5pm on Saturday) or book online at www.leicestertigers.com
Leicester Tigers (v USA Perpignan, Stade Aime Giral, Saturday 2.30pm local/1.30pm UK)
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 Dan Cole
4 Louis Deacon
5 George Skivington
6 Thomas Waldrom
7 Craig Newby
8 Jordan Crane
Replacements
16 Rob Hawkins
17 Peter Bucknall
18 Martin Castrogiovanni
19 Ed Slater
20 Steve Mafi
21 James Grindal
22 Jeremy Staunton
23 Manu Tuilagi
USA Perpignan: 15 Jérôme Porical, 14 Adrien Plante, 13 David Marty, 12 Joffrey Michel, 11 Julien Candelon, 10 Nicolas Laharrague, 9 David Mele; 1 Perry Freshwater, 2 Marius Tincu, 3 Nicolas Mas, 4 Olivier Olibeau, 5 Robins Tchale Watchou, 6 Bertrand Guiry, 7 Ovidiu Tonita, 8 Damien Chouly.
Replacements: 16 Guilhem Guirado, 17 Jérôme Schuster, 18 Kisi Pulu, 19 Gerrie Britz, 20 Henry Tuilagi, 21 Jean-Pierre Perez, 22 Florian Cazenave, 23 Farid Sid
