Northampton Saints vs Harlequins Prediction: Saints can win high-scoring shootout

Northampton will look to make it an impressive 11 wins on the bounce at Franklin’s Gardens in the Premiership when the Saints host Harlequins on Friday night (19:45 kick-off). Saints were well beaten 38-16 in their opening game of the season, as Bath got some small revenge for their Grand Final defeat to Northampton last term.

Beating Exeter Chiefs in their following game, Northampton look much more like themselves at Franklin’s Gardens and are favourites to overcome a Harlequins side that have lost on their last four visits to the East Midlands ground in all competitions.

Gallagher Premiership outright

Team News

Starting with the hosts, number eight Sam Graham and wing Ollie Sleightholme both return to Northampton's starting line-up in just two changes from the side that beat Exeter Chiefs 30-24 last time out.

As for the visitors, Quins make six changes after their 28-14 win against Newcastle Falcons last time out.

Jack Walker is back at hooker and Irne Herbert returns to make what will be his 50th appearance for the club.

Danny Care comes in at scrum-half with Jarrod Evans at stand-off, while England stand-off Marcus Smith replaces Leigh Halfpenny at full-back.

Will Joseph comes into the centres for the injured Luke Northmore and joins Lennox Anyanwu in the heart of the backline.

Match Odds

Northampton are the firm favourites at 1/5 for the win, while Harlequins are 18/5 to cause an upset and head back to the capital with a victory.

A draw on Friday night is available at 25/1, while Northampton to win by between 1-12 points inclusive is currently 11/5.

Northampton Saints -12 handicap @ 5/6

Looking back at the last six meetings between these attacking sides in all competitions, Northampton have scored an impressive 224 points, at an average of 37.3 points per match.

Marcus Smith being played at full-back as opposed to fly-half means the visitors lose that threat at first receiver and it’s disappointing not to see him go head-to-head against fellow England stand-off Fin Smith.

Northampton tend to score high in this fixture and if they get a good start, overcoming Quins and covering the handicap looks more than achievable here.

Between 61 and 70 inclusive total points @ 10/3

Crunching the numbers from the last six meetings between these sides, this fixture has never been short on points.

No less than 410 points have been scored between these teams over those last six games in all competitions, at an average of 68.3 total points per match.

With that in mind, and considering this bet would have landed in four of those last six meetings, between 61 and 70 inclusive total points is the way to go here at 10/3.

Rugby Union Betting Tips from Betfred Insights.