Leicester Tigers vs Exeter Predictions - Leicester Tigers set to beat Exeter at home

Brad Newcomb

Editor

Last updated: 3 hours ago

Brad Newcomb 3 hours ago

Share this article

Leicester Tigers boast 8 straight home wins in the Premiership.
Exeter Chiefs must win but have lost last 4 visits to Leicester.
Leicester are tipped to cover the -11.5 handicap in this crucial fixture.

Leicester Tigers are on a winning streak at home (Getty Images)

The Leicester Tigers have been in fine form at home during their campaign and are pushing for a home semi-final with two fixtures remaining. Exeter must win to maintain their position in the standings to advance to the play-offs, but they have struggled to beat Leicester away from home in recent seasons.

Leicester Tigers have won 6 of their last 7 fixtures (PREM).
Leicester Tigers have won 8 consecutive home matches (PREM).
Exeter have lost 3 of their last 4 away games (PREM).
Exeter have lost 4 consecutive matches away to Leicester (PREM).

Head to Head

The Leicester Tigers have a slight edge with 19 victories to 16 against Exeter in 35 meetings.

Leicester Tigers Form

The Leicester Tigers recorded a narrow victory in their recent match against Saracens, winning 37-33 away from home after leading 28-12 at the break.

In the Premiership, the Tigers have been in superb form at home. They have defeated Harlequins 29-19, Bath 22-20, Sale Sharks 36-35, Gloucester 45-14, Saracens 36-28, Bristol 33-19, Newcastle 62-3, and Northampton Saints 41-17.

Leicester are 3rd in the Premiership Rugby standings with 62 points from 16 games.

The Leicester Tigers have been in tremendous form at home in the league this season, winning eight in a row, and they must beat Exeter to close the gap on Bath and league leaders Northampton Saints, keeping their hopes of securing a home semi-final alive with two matches remaining.

Exeter Form

Exeter dropped crucial points in the race for the play-offs in their recent match against Harlequins, losing 41-24 away from home after leading 24-12 at half-time.

The Chiefs have had mixed fortunes away from home in the league this season. They drew 33-33 with the Northampton Saints, lost 18-14 to Bristol, beat Sale Sharks 27-26, defeated Saracens 30-24, lost to Bath 33-26, and defeated Newcastle 38-14 before losing 34-31 to Gloucester and 41-24 to Harlequins.

Exeter are 4th in the Premiership Rugby table with 55 points from 16 matches.

The Exeter Chiefs must win to keep their distance from the chasing pack in the race for the play-offs, as Bristol are five points behind them in the standings and Saracens are three points behind. However, they will have to play well to beat the Leicester Tigers, as they have lost their last four visits to Welford Road.

Team News

Leicester Tigers

Flanker Olly Cracknell has stated the importance of beating Exeter this weekend: "We definitely want to push and get a home semi-final. It's obviously massive and Welford Road at home for a semi-final is absolutely unbelievable. I remember last year's was just incredible."

Full-back Freddie Steward recently had surgery on his thumb, but he is expected to return for the play-offs.

Exeter

Director of rugby Rob Baxter has stated the importance of winning their final two fixtures of the regular season in the race for the play-offs: "So there's no way of saying they're not big games because you can't see any way out of it other than we've got to win at least one of them and collect points in the other to even give ourselves a chance really of being in the top four.

"So whichever way we have to do it, we're going to have to do it one way or the other which is collect a number of points over two games.

"I don't think it's going to be a scenario where we can wait until the last game of the season and hope that it's a one-off game, I just can't see the permutations working quite like that."