London Irish's Peter Hewat will be looking to inspire a victory over Gloucester © Getty Images

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Matches: London Irish 42 - 12 Gloucester Rugby | Northampton Saints 23 - 13 Harlequins | Worcester Warriors 20 - 20 Bristol Bears | Bath Rugby 24 - 20 Sale Sharks | Wasps 33 - 24 Saracens | Leicester Tigers 20 - 3 Newcastle Falcons

Teams: Bath Rugby | Bristol Bears | England | Gloucester Rugby | Harlequins | Leicester Tigers | London Irish | Newcastle Falcons | Northampton Saints | Sale Sharks | Saracens | Wasps | Worcester Warriors

Following two barnstorming rounds of Heineken Cup action, the Premiership rolls back into focus with some crunch fixtures kicking off the festive season.

Pace-setters London Irish host second-placed Gloucester at the Madejski Stadium on Saturday, with two lengthy unbeaten runs on the line. With the sides currently separated only by points difference, there is an opportunity for the winner to steal a march at the top. Irish are unbeaten in nine and Gloucester in seven, meaning that both sides will need to be at their best to down the other.

London Irish boss Toby Booth has named a strong side for the game, with Peter Hewat starting at fly-half and a hugeley exciting back-line containing Delon Armitage, Topsy Ojo and Sailosi Tagicakibau will be fired up for the challenge against an open Gloucester outfit.

"London Irish does not have the resources of our West Country visitors but we believe that what we have in terms of hard work, team spirit and quality goes a long way to compensate," Booth said. "We've made real progress since September, tomorrow we have a chance to measure ourselves against a club that consistently ranks among the best in the country. We will relish that opportunity," Booth concluded.

Gloucester were been dealt a blow by illness sweeping through the squad earlier in the week, with centres Olly Barkley and Mike Tindall and fly-half Ryan Lamb unable to train. All three players have recovered to take starting roles however, and All Blacks prop Greg Somerville will make his first start for the Cherry and Whites.

"For almost the first time this season we have been in a position to put some real pressure on certain selections but that has been diluted somewhat by the illness in and around the squad," said Gloucester head coach Dean Ryan. "That has been an issue this week because we had certain areas that were game specific to London Irish we wanted to work on but these are two good sides, playing with a bit of confidence and who want to play rugby.

"I read very little into the fact it is the top two going head to head at this stage of the season but there is no question London Irish are a very good team. We have come out of Europe with this game very much in mind for that reason and are relishing the prospect."

The Recreation ground will also be hosting a top-of-the-table showdown, with fourth placed Sale travelling to take on third placed Bath. Bath received a welcome boost ahead of the gruelling Christmas schedule earlier in the week with the news that skipper Michael Lipman and promising prop Aaron Jarvis had committed their futures to the club.

Lipman will lead Bath out, with Butch James and Michael Claasens continuing at half-back and the impressive Alex Crockett in midfield. Matt Banahan and Joe Maddock fill the wings while Nick Abendanon slots in at full-back.

Scotland flanker Jason White and Wales scrum-half Dwayne Peel return for the Sharks, who will want to put their disappointing Heineken Cup defeat to Montauban behind them. Charlie Hodgson partners Peel at half-back and Luke McAlister takes the No 12 jersey.

Harlequins return to league action with a trip to face Northampton Saints at Franklin's Gardens. Having scaled the heights with two magnificent wins over Stade Francais in the Heineken Cup, Quins, and their match-winning All Black fly-half Nick Evans, will be looking to carry the momentum into the league.

"We will enjoy the satisfaction of beating Stade twice in a row, but I will have to get used to going from Heineken Cup intensity back to the Premiership," Evans said. "It would be disappointing if we back up those two (Stade) performances by losing to Northampton on Saturday. We are fifth in the Premiership, and we have got to get ourselves back into the top four by winning games like Saturday's."

Evans partners Andy Gomarsall at half-back, while Will Skinner captains the team from open-side. Nick Easter will be looking to continue his fine recent form from the back of the scrum and centre Jordan Turner-Hall will have his eyes on the whitewash once again after crossing twice in two weeks against Stade.

Evans will be up against fellow Kiwi and Saints skipper Bruce Reihana, who starts at full-back, while Carlos Spencer cannot force his way past Stephen Myler at fly-half. Dylan Hartley starts up front alongside in-form Scotland prop Euan Murray.

Worcester Warriors host bottom-placed Bristol at Sixways on Saturday with both sides looking for points to lift them up the table. Bristol's preparations for this crucial game have been disrupted by the damaging news that skipper Joe El Abd will miss three months after sustaining a bicep injury against Northampton in the European Challenge Cup.

Bristol boss Richard Hill will be able to call on increased options in midfield however after the club secured the signature of 26-year-old Wales international Nathan Brew on Thursday. Shaun Perry leads Bristol from scrum-half with Ed Barnes outside him, while an explosive back row of Alfie To'oala, Redford Pennycook and Dan Ward-Smith will be looking to give Bristol some much needed go-forward.

"Worcester have spent a lot of money trying to break into the top six - but they are still in the bottom half of the table," said Hill. "They need something from their next two home games; otherwise they could be dragged into the relegation fight. If we can go there and get a win, then that will increase the pressure and drag them right into it. It is nothing new to us - we are not nervous about it. We're used to it - and we know how to deal with it."

The Warriors have also suffered at the hands of a flu-like virus this week, but will be buoyed by the return of talismanic ex-Wallaby full-back Chris Latham. Pat Sanderson also makes his 100th appearance for the Warriors, and wing Chris Pennell is also fit again and starts - with prop Matt Mullan, hooker Aleki Lutui and lock Greg Rawlinson all returning after last weekend's Challenge Cup success against Bourgoin.

"Saturday is a massive game, particularly for Bristol," said Worcester boss Mike Ruddock. "They want to come here and beat us and get their revenge for the two wins we had against them last season - also to make sure they don't lose touch with the rest of the teams. If we beat them which we hope to do on Saturday then that's another win for us and more pressure on them."

Wasps take on Saracens at Adams Park, with the champions hoping to take their improved Heineken Cup form into the Premiership in order to avoid an unwanted record fourth successive home loss in the Premiership. With contract wrangling between Wasps and their high-profile stars, including England pair Danny Cipriani and James Haskell, threatening to disrupt Wasps' festive period this could be a vital came in determining the course of the season.

Cipriani and Haskell both start against Sarries, with Haskell shifting to No 8 alongside Joe Worsley and Tom Rees. Josh Lewsey starts inside Cipriani, while Tom Voyce and Paul Sackey will be looking to stretch their legs on the wings.

Sarries welcome back fly-half Glen Jackson and co-captain Andy Farrell to the midfield. Jackson partners Neil de Kock at half-back while Farrell will be looking to bring their exciting back three of Alex Goode, Kameli Ratuvou and Noah Cato into the game. England skipper Steve Borthwick will lead the side out.

Leicester Tigers welcome Newcastle Falcons to Welford Road, although the struggling Falcons' preparation has been far from ideal after a flu-type bug took its toll on the squad. "I had it myself over the weekend, so I can really sympathise with the players currently battling through it," said Falcons boss Steve Bates. "The bug itself only seems to knock you down for about 48 hours, but for two or three days after that, you would still struggle to play a high-intensity game of rugby."

Bates has already lost the services of fly-half Rory Clegg and flanker Adam Balding to illness, and will assess other players on the morning of the match.

"A number of guys haven't trained much, or at all, this week in a bid to try and get through the illness in time for Saturday," Bates said. "We will be taking plenty of extra bodies down with us to the hotel in case we have to make late changes on the day of the game."

Veteran lock Ben Kay will lead the Tigers, with Martin Corry on the bench. Toby Flood starts at fly-half and a pacy back-three of Geordan Murphy, Scott Hamilton and Johne Murphy will be after terrorising the flagging Falcons.