Leicester Tigers lost their Premiership opener at Bristol and will be looking to respond by putting on a show in new coach Dan McKellar’s first home game against Sale Sharks.

The Sharks were too good for Northampton Saints in their first league fixture of the season and will be confident of causing an upset at Welford Road.

They beat the Tigers away from home last season and also got the better of them at the AJ Bell in both the regular season and the Premiership semi-finals.

McKellar is expected to impose a more expansive gameplan than his predecessor, Steve Borthwick, but may favour a simpler gameplan in attempting to counter opposite number Alex Sanderson, who appears to have Sale heading in the right direction.

After missing out in last term’s Twickenham Grand Final, the Sharks will be gunning to go one better and can make a statement on Saturday.

Match Odds

Leicester lead the match odds at 8/13, while Sale are 7/5 to win at Welford Road for the second straight season.

The tie is 18/1, while the Tigers are 5/6 carrying a -2.5 handicap.

Team News

Both teams have players absent at the World Cup, with Dan Cole, George Martin, Ollie Chessum, Ben Youngs and Freddie Steward unavailable for the Tigers due to their England commitments. Handre Pollard is with South Africa and Julian Montoya is captaining Argentina.

Meanwhile, the England quartet of Tom Curry, George Ford, Manu Tuilagi and Bevan Rodd will miss the match for Sale. Agustin Creevy is also absent as he is deputising for Montoya in Los Pumas’ semi-final with New Zealand on Friday.

Sale to win @ 6/4

They might be the underdogs in the match odds, but Sale will feel they can grab a key victory on Saturday.

The Tigers are missing several prominent players and, while Ford is absent, captain Rob Du Preez is a fine replacement at fly-half, after being switched to the centres in the spring following the England playmaker’s recovery from injury.

Leicester may take heart from winning the pair’s Premiership Rugby Cup clash in September. However, both sides selected young squads on that occasion and, after winning all three meetings last season, Sale have the class to continue that run.