Loffreda's men place orders at the Last Chance Saloon

Down Twickenham way yesterday many a doubter was pondering whether the red rose engine really needed a Tiger in the tank. Up in Leicester they could do with one right now. In fact, one of their all-time icons is coming back to Welford Road on 10 May, the last day of the regulation Premiership season. Yes, the round-shouldered shadow of Dean Richards is starting to loom menacingly large on Leicester's horizon.

A final-day fixture at home to a Harlequins side who have been put firmly in the pink (not to mention magenta, light blue, chocolate, French grey, black and light green) by the legendary Leicester No 8 and one-time director of playing operations is not exactly an enticing prospect from where the Tigers are standing right now. That is: sixth in the table, six points behind Richards' Quins, who are third, and two points below a Wasps side occupying the fourth and final play-off place who have a game in hand and are on a winning run of seven matches.

Sadly, there is no longer a "Deano's Bar" at Welford Road; Richards insisted on taking the name with him, as well as all of his memorabilia, when his tenure as Leicester's director of rugby was ended in February 2004 after four league championships and two Heineken Cups. There is, however, a Last Chance Saloon. Leicester will be supping in it this afternoon. If they were to lose at home to Bristol, with just a trip to Newcastle and that visit of Harlequins to come, Marcelo Loffreda's men can kiss goodbye to any chance of salvaging their season.

This time last year Leicester already had one trophy in the bag (the EDF Energy Cup), had a second on the way (the Premiership), and might well have claimed a third had they not run into a Wasps side at the top of their street-smart game in the Heineken Cup final at Twickenham. A Mother Hubbard trophy cupboard would be bad enough for Loffreda in his maiden season (well, three-quarter season) as Leicester's head coach; a failure to make the play-off cut, on the back of a pool-stage exit on the European front, would make his situation decidedly insecure.

It was never likely to be easy for the man from Buenos Aires to pick up the momentum of the Pat Howard era, after he spent the autumn inspiring his beloved Pumas to their World Cup heroics in France (finishing one place behind Brian Ashton's England, in third) and then uprooted, with his family, from Argentina to attempt to hit the ground running in his new professional life in the East Midlands. His Tigers have shown flashes of true menace – notably in a 42-13 mauling of Quins at the Stoop in January and a 34-24 EDF semi-final success against Wasps last month – but they were positively toothless in a 24-12 Premiership loss at home to Wasps three weeks ago and in going down to a 23-6 EDF final defeat against the Ospreys at Twickenham a week ago.

Tuesday's 26-12 reverse at Bath made it three defeats in a row and, having fielded a virtual shadow XV at the Rec, Loffreda has brought back the cavalry in an attempt to stop the rot today – there is a second-row slot for his captain, Martin Corry, and a return at full-back for Geordan Murphy, among a total of 11 changes. "We have three massive games left and we must win them all if we want to have a chance of qualifying for a play-off place," Leicester's head coach said.

The same can be said of Richards and his young but maturing Quins side. They need to maintain the momentum that has yielded six wins in seven games. Not that they are likely to have an easy time today at the Madejski. London Irish, who welcome back Peter Richards at scrum-half and have Shane Geraghty in the other half-back position, are on a roll of their own. It would only be natural, though, if the Exiles had one eye on their Heineken Cup semi-final against Toulouse next Saturday.

At Kingsholm a week ago Saracens, who face Munster in Coventry next week, were distracted to the tune of a 39-15, six-try stuffing against the Premiership leaders. Tomorrow, home advantage should sharpen their focus, although the Fez heads might get a little fuzzy if Danny Cipriani and his fellow Wasps hit them with some of their Pythagorean attacking angles from early on.

Elsewhere, today's schedule pits top (Gloucester) against bottom (Leeds) at Kingsholm, and second-top (Bath) against second-bottom (Worcester) at Sixways. Tomorrow Newcastle roll up to play Sale at Edgeley Park, with the Falcons in a flap after a losing run of seven Premiership matches – minus Messrs Wilkinson, Tait, Flood and Noon.

Guinness Premiership team news

*LONDON IRISH v HARLEQUINS (Today, 2.45pm)

Peter Richards partners Shane Geraghty at half-back for Irish. David Strettle is on the wing for Quins and Nick Easter is at No 8.

*GLOUCESTER v LEEDS (Today, 3pm)

Alasdair Dickinson is at loose-head for Gloucester, with Olivier Azam at hooker and Gareth Cooper at No 9. Scott Armstrong makes a Premiership debut on the wing for Leeds.

*LEICESTER v BRISTOL (Today, 3pm)

Geordan Murphy is at full-back and Martin Corry at lock for Leicester. Luke Eves makes a full Premiership debut for Bristol at centre.

*WORCESTER v BATH (Today, 3pm)

Pat Sanderson is at No 7 for Worcester with Aleki Lutui at hooker and Greg Rawlinson at lock. For Bath, Olly Barkley and Tom Cheeseman start at centre and Duncan Bell is tight-head.

*SARACENS v WASPS (Tomorrow, 3pm)

Nick Lloyd, Fabio Ongaro and Cencus Johnston form the front row for Saracens and Paul Gustard is at blind-side. Wasps have Dominic Waldouck at inside centre and Tom French and Pat Barnard in the front-row. Tom Palmer, Joe Worsley and Lawrence Dallaglio also start.

*SALE v NEWCASTLE (Tomorrow, 3.30pm)

Newcastle's Jonny Wilkinson, Toby Flood, Jamie Noon, Mathew Tait and Carl Hayman are out. Luke McAlister and Jason White are out for Sale, pending fitness tests today.