Leicester look lively enough to shade injury-hit Scarlets

Leicester v Scarlets
BT Sport 2, 7.45pm Friday

Leicester are no longer a force in England, let alone Europe, and all is still not well at Welford Road after Geordan Murphy replaced Matt O'Connor at the helm following a heavy defeat at Exeter in their first Premiership game.

But the Tigers are taken to shade the Scarlets in the opening clash of the second set of Champions Cup pool-stage fixtures.

The Scarlets are becoming a fixture in the higher echelons of continental club rugby, winning the Pro12 in 2017 and losing out to Leinster in last season's Pro14 final and Champions Cup semi-finals, but they arrive in the East Midlands stretched by injuries and may not be able to replicate their best form.

A mix-and-match pack, who struggled to hold Racing 92's forwards in Saturday's 14-13 loss at Parc y Scarlets, is now missing dynamic lock Jake Ball, while frontline fly-halves Rhys Patchell and Angus O'Brien are sidelined along with prolific wing Johnny McNicholl.

There is no shame in losing out by a point courtesy of a late penalty try at home to last year's runners-up, but Scarlets have lost their two Pro14 away games 33-20 at Connacht and 15-12 at Ulster.

The Tigers were trampled in the second half in Belfast on Saturday when a huge penalty count proved costly, but they should be more disciplined on their own turf and they ground out victories over Sale and Northampton in the Premiership before tackling Ulster. They were also fluent in attack when beating Newcastle 49-33 at Welford Road and losing 41-35 at Wasps.

A bizarre 44-37 home loss to Worcester will guard against complacency in the Leicester ranks as will collective ownership of a worst-ever European run of five straight defeats and recognition that the Scarlets picked up 11 points on the road in last season's pool stages.

Murphy welcomes back England wing Jonny May and has varied midfield options with Manu Tuilagi fit again and Matt Toomua settled back in the fold after his Rugby Championship exertions with Australia.

Recent Champions Cup meetings - 2014-15: Scarlets 3 Leicester 15, Leicester 40 Scarlets 23; 2010-11: Leicester 46 Scarlets 10, Scarlets 32 Leicester 18.

Recommendation
Leicester to win by one to 12 points
1pt 7-4 Coral, Ladbrokes, Sky Bet

Read every day for no-nonsense previews and expert sports betting tips

Today's top sports betting stories

Follow us on Twitter @racingpostsport

Like us on Facebook RacingPostSport