Leicester Tigers vs Bristol Prediction: Bears to dig in on the road

The race for the top four in the Gallagher Premiership hots up when the Leicester Tigers host Bristol on Sunday afternoon (15:00, live on TNT Sports 1).

Read on for my Leicester Tigers vs Bristol prediction - complete with the latest team news and match odds per Betfred.

Bristol will be fresher of the two teams at Welford Road, having not played since February 28. Leicester come into the game on the back of winning the Prem Rugby Cup for the first time after they won 66-14 against Exeter last weekend.

The visitors ran out 42-24 winners when the two teams last met in September, but a lot has changed then and Sunday's encounter promises to be a fascinating affair.

Leicester Tigers vs Bristol Odds

Leicester are 2/5 favourites to win on Sunday, with the draw 16/1, while Bristol are considered 11/5 outsiders.

On the 3-way handicap, Leicester are 10/11 to cover the -7 line, while the hosts are 4/7 to win the first half this weekend.

Team News

Leicester captain Ollie Chessum returns to lead the side against Bristol on Sunday. He is one of seven changes to the starting lineup from last weekend's win over Exeter.

Olly Cracknell, Joe Heyes, Freddie Steward, Nicky Smith, and Jamie Blamire also return, while Hamish Watson is handed a debut.

Captain Tommy Reffell misses out with an injury and will be sidelined for the next eight weeks.

Bristol's Steven Luatua returns to action as he starts in the back row alongside captain Fitz Harding and number eight Viliame Mata.

James Dun partners with Joe Owen in the second row, while Jake Woolmore returns from the front row after suffering a fractured jaw in December.

Gabriel Ibitoye makes his first league start since the opening round clash with Leicester and he joins Noah Heward and Kalaveti Ravouvou in the back three.

Leicester Tigers to win by 1-12 points inclusive @ 2/1

Sunday's result could go a long way to deciding the top-four standings in the Prem table and Bristol will be quietly confident of keeping this scoreline respectable.

They are one point and one place better off than their hosts in the table and they have won five of their last six games against the Tigers.

Leicester have improved dramatically since that result, though, and the return of seven key players from Six Nations duty after a Cup success is significant.

The Tigers have won their last five games and their recent scoring exploits are hard to ignore. Bristol lost their last four games in the Prem Cup to fall short in the competition, but they scored 33 points or more in their last three matches in the competition.

They were not beaten by more than 12 points in any of those four defeats and they will be the fresher team after nearly a month of rest from competitive action.

Leicester should be able to find a way to get over the line, but Bristol can dig in and make the scoreline respectable.

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