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Harlequins head of rugby Paul Gustard is certainly not one to mince his words and he was on true form earlier this week when reacting to Saracens' automatic relegation.

“I’m a 43-year-old man who’s got a two-year-old currently trying to potty train - so I’m shocked by nothing any more," he told BBC Sport.

“It’s been dealt with. There’s plenty of people who want to talk about it, I don’t.

“They have faced the consequences and accepted the punishment. They’ve got clarity about where they stand, the league’s got clarity about where they stand.

“That’s it.

“My focus is on helping Harlequins be a force in English rugby and in Europe. That starts on Sunday in beating a fierce local rival in Saracens.”

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Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall has faced many questions in front of the media in recent weeks after the club's automatic relegation from the Premiership was confirmed.

But this afternoon, he and his players have a chance to write some different headlines with their actions on the pitch.

On how coaches and players have dealt with the fallout from automatic relegation being confirmed:

"Of course this week there has been different emotions.

"We played a big game on Sunday - a very emotional game, which showed a remarkable group at work, to go down to 14 men and then the players instinctively came together which said a lot.

"Of course there's there's inevitable ups and downs. But we have known each other for a long time, we've been through a lot together, and I think these strong relationships will continue.

On the challenge they will face against Harlequins:

"We want to prepare as well as we possibly can.

"We want to keep driving the group on. We have the opportunity now to build pretty good game time to some young players and to make sure we use these four months wisely for next year as well.

"So once we get our heads around it, it's going to be a lot clearer."

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And for the visitors....

A vision of the future perhaps with Saracens' line-up for this game as Mark McCall hands opportunities to many of their latest promising batch of academy graduates.

There's experience thrown in there as well though with winger Alex Lewington (pictured above) making his 100th Premiership appearance.

Brad Barritt was orginally due to skipper the side but was withdrawn overnight so Dom Morris gets a first Premiership start in a midfield pairing with Alex Lozowski. Manu Vunipola, cousin of Mako and Billy, takes the no. 10 shirt.

Saracens: Gallagher; Lewington, Lozowski, Morris, Segun; Manu Vunipola, Wigglesworth; Barrington (co-capt), Singleton, Koch, Hunter-Hill, Kpoku, Isiekwe, Clark, Wray (co-capt).

Replacements: Woolstencroft, Lamositele ,Ibuanokpe, Christie, Reffell, Spencer, Watson, Obatoyinbo.

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Let's start with the hosts...

After a disappointing European Champions Cup campaign Harlequins welcome back a number of experienced names.

They include lock Matt Symons (pictured above), who this week signed a new contract to keep him at The Stoop beyond the end of this season.

Despite their lengthy injury list and international call-ups, Paul Gustard is able to welcome back the likes of captain Chris Robshaw, number eight Alex Dombrandt and centre Paul Lasike.

But their is another late injury casualty - winger Ross Chisholm has been withdrawn and hands Tom Penny a first Premiership start at outside centre. Cadan Murley moves to the right wing.

Harlequins: Morris; Murley, Penny, Lasike, Ibitoye; Smith, Care; Garcia Botta, Elia, Collier, Lewies, Symons, J Chisholm, Robshaw (capt), Dombrandt.

Replacements: Musk, Auterac, Kerrod, Cavubati, Kunatani, Landajo, Herron, Goneva.

Welcome along to our live coverage this afternoon from The Stoop in a grey and drizzly south west London.

The stadium DJ here seems to want to take us to the dancefloors of Pascha rather than the chilly streets of Twickenham so that's keeping us all moving before the main event.

Team news on the way....

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From one well known 'Clash' to another - Sunday afternoon in the Premiership serves up a meeting of two capital neighbours.

Plenty has gone on off-the-field in the world of Saracens in recent weeks and now it's a case of back to business for the current champions.

Even though they already know their fate for the remainder of the season, there's pride and a little bit more still to play for.

And it all starts against old enemy Harlequins in the next 15 minutes or so.