Northampton Saints v Harlequins: Tom Vickers' big match preview

Competition: Gallagher Premiership

Venue: cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens

Date and kick-off time: Sunday, January 1, 2023, 3pm

Weather forecast: 9c, cloudy

Live television coverage: BT Sport 1

Referee: Luke Pearce

Saints: Furbank; Freeman, Proctor, Dingwall, Ramm; F Smith, Mitchell; A Waller, S Matavesi, Hill; Ribbans, Moon; Salakaia-Loto, Scott-Young, Ludlam (c).

Replacements: Haywood, Iyogun, Petch, Wilkins, Graham, Braley, Hutchinson, Skosan.

Harlequins: David; Murley, Marchant, Esterhuizen, Bassett; Allan, Gjaltema; Baxter, Walker, Kerrod; Lamb, Hammond; White, Lawday, Dombrandt (c).

Replacements: Head, Louw, Matthews, Wallace, Care, Edwards, Beard.

Not considered for Saints selection: Courtney Lawes, Alex Coles, Juarno Augustus, James Fish, James Grayson

Most recent meeting: Tuesday, October 11, 2022: Saints 49 Harlequins 29 (Premiership Rugby Cup)

Tom’s preview: This season's home game against Harlequins may be coming much earlier in the year, but it feels like it has similar significance for Saints.

Back in April, the black, green and gold showed incredible character to claim a 32-31 win against Quins that kept their Gallagher Premiership top-four hopes alive.

Saints were pretty much playing knockout rugby at that stage, needing to pick up plenty of points every week to ensure the title chances remained intact.

They would eventually ensure that a play-off semi-final beckoned as a run of six bonus-point wins in their final seven league games got the job done.

And Saints' sights will now be set on a similar revival as they head into 2023.

Defeats to Saracens and Gloucester have felt damaging, and with the win at Wasps earlier in the season wiped from the table, Phil Dowson's side have just four victories to their name.

It has not been the first half of the season they dreamed of so far, with ill discipline and defensive frailties seeming to bite them almost every week.

They may have scored plenty of tries, but they have also squandered so many chances, meaning their 'we'll-score-more-than-you' success of late last season has faded.

And in the most competitive Premiership anyone can surely remember, the margin for error is reducing with every game that goes by.

On Sunday, Saints get a chance not only to breathe new life into their own top-four bid but to dent the dreams of one of their rivals.

In fact, they will get that chance pretty much every week as it feels like no side can truly be discounted from finishing in the top four this season.

That was shown last weekend, when the league's bottom three sides beat the league's top three.

It truly is a crazy Premiership full of clubs who pack a punch.

And Saints know it is now time to restore their own reputation by making a mockery of the standings, just as London Irish, Newcastle Falcons and Bristol Bears did over the festive period.

To do that, they will need to be much more solid than they have been.

They must make Quins work much harder for their points than the likes of Gloucester and Saracens have had to in recent defeats.

And at the other end of the field, Saints will have to show a far more clinical edge than they did during a December that saw them fail to grab so much as a bonus point against Gloucester, La Rochelle and Munster.

It really feels that everyone at the club could do with some January joy to banish the December blues.

And there is no better way to do that than by beating Quins in front of a sizeable crowd on the first day of 2023.

Tom’s prediction: This really is a must-win for Saints in front of a big crowd at the Gardens. Harlequins will pose plenty of problems all over the pitch, but I’m backing the black, green and gold to get the job done. Saints 30 Harlequins 27.