Vicky Macqueen
Ex-England women full-back on BBC Radio Leicester

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My heart says Tigers and my head says there could be a big shock today.

If Tigers grab every opportunity and play with energy, they could win this.

Early tester for Leicester full-back Freddie Steward, who spills a tester off the boot of Owen Farrell.

It was fairly easy meat for a player of his quality, but it's spilled.

Anyway, Sarries get the scrum for a forward pass.

First set-piece of the game.

Here we go then.

Owen Farrell sweeps it downfield and Leicester hit it up.

The 20th Premiership final is under way.

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Plenty of iron faces among both sides, little emotion on show.

This is where the big-game experience of both sides will be key.

We're about ready to go...

By the way, if this game is level at full-time, the game is sorted out as follows.

1. Two 10 minute periods of extra-time with a minute interval
2. If that doesn't decide it, the team that has scored the most tries will win
3. If that's equal... a place kicking competition will take place

It might not get that far of course, but if it does we'll be in for some drama.

Twickenham is filling up nicely and it's getting noisy now, no doubt a bit of Dutch courage imbibed by the nervy fans.

Teams are in the tunnel. We're very close to kick-off now.

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Both sides won a game apiece this season in their two meetings, and there wasn't much between them in either.

Leicester continued their then 100% record with a last-minute penalty try win over Sarries at Mattoli Woods Welford Road. That 13-12 victory was one of 11 games straight they won from the start of the campaign.

Saracens got their revenge back at the StoneX Stadium though, winning 34-27 as Tom Woolstencroft's late score finally ended the Tigers hopes of a fightback.

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Chris Jones
BBC rugby union correspondent on BBC Radio 5 Live

You’ve got two teams which have Saracens running through them.

Leicester are coached by a former Saracens player, and have a former Saracens scrum-half and wing. The pillars of their games are similar.

We’ve got two of the best tacticians in George Ford and Owen Farrell who will both kick for territory and aim to put the pressure on the other team.

I expect the first half-an-hour to be shadow boxing and then we’ll see who can land the knockout blow.

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Saracens returned to the big time after an enforced absence by staking their claims for the Premiership title.

They might not have been as imposing as in previous campaigns following a season in the Championship for salary cap breaches, but behind the seemingly unstoppable Leicester, Sarries were the next best thing.

Mark McCall's side picked up 17 wins, lost just six and drew one of their 24 games to finish second behind the league's runaway leaders.

In the semi-finals, their opponents were reigning champions Harlequins and they turned around a nine-point deficit to come out on top with Ben Earl continuing his remarkable scoring with a hat-trick from the back-row.

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Leicester won their way through to the play-offs with an utterly dominant performance in the regular season, topping the league from start to finish.

They won their first 11 league games to steam clear at the top, and continued to dominate after that loss to Wasps.

Their play-off opponents were East Midlands rivals Northampton, who were beaten 27-14 by the Tigers to book their return to HQ.

One of the iconic experiences for any player is the walk from the team bus through the throng at Twickenham into the stands.

Special whatever your level of experience.

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Elliot Daly has been there, but not quite got the T-shirt when it comes to Premiership finals.

The former Wasps centre-cum-wing-cum-full-back played in the 2017 final loss to Exeter with his old club, scoring as the game went to extra-time before a Gareth Steenson penalty took the trophy down to Sandy Park.

Having swapped Wasps for Sarries amongst serial winners, the England international now hopes to go one better this afternoon.

"I'm an experienced player but the likes of Jamie [George], Faz [Farrell] and Mako [Vunipola] have been to five, six, seven finals and their conversion rate from getting to finals to actually winning is amazing," he told BBC Radio London.

"It's a brilliant lesson for me to lean into these guys. I'm experienced, but not in these situations, so it's nice to see how much we can get out of them to push us forward to the weekend.

"It's massive for me to win trophies with Saracens and hopefully we'll win one on Saturday."

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There is a poignancy to Leicester's appearance at Twickenham this afternoon, given the pending departures of two key figures - skipper Ellis Genge and influential fly-half George Ford - this summer.

Genge, who returns to hometown club Bristol, brings aggression and a no-nonsense approach to the front-row which has been key to Steve Borthwick's side's work at the set-piece and in the loose.

Ford's skill with the boot and creativity on the back of all the forward grunt has also steered Leicester toward success, with 20 regular season wins and 88 tries scored.

Both have stuck it out on recent seasons as Tigers toiled, but Borthwick's arrival and appointments such as Kevin Sinfield have turned the club around. Today is a reward for Genge having been loyal when he could easily have departed.

"I made a pact a long time ago that I would never leave Tigers if they were in a dark hole," he said.

"I had all sorts of offers in 2017, 2018 and 2019 to go elsewhere when we were bottom of the pile, and I said I wanted to stick it out and see brighter days.

"I've still got my stuff in the changing rooms. I haven't packed up, I still live up here, and I've got the biggest game of my career on Saturday."

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One of the key battles this afternoon will take place between two lads who grew up playing rugby league in the north west, have played for England together in rugby union, and today will look to outdo each other for the Premier prize.

Leicester's George Ford, son of league favourite Mike, and Saracens' Owen Farrell, the son of dual code legend Andy, will be the guiding force for their respective sides this afternoon.

Each will know so much about each other's game, and it will be an intriguing battle in that midfield area as to who gains supremacy.

Ford has the running threat and the dynamism, while Farrell possesses a radar-guided boot and his game management will be a terrific weapon.

Watch this space.

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It was as if Sarries had never been away when they returned to the Premiership this season.

The same ground-rumbling power of the pack with Mako Vunipola, Jamie George and the relentless Maro Itoje.

Behind them, Alex Lozowski and Aled Davies carried the side when England star Owen Farrell wasn't available, while Max Malins topped the try-scoring and Ben Earl contributed key scores too.

Only Leicester and Sale conceded fewer points this term, and only the Tigers conceded fewer tries too.

Today's game will be the ultimate test of their credentials.

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Few sights in the Premiership had become as ominous as Saracens in their all-black kits stalking out of the sheds at Twickenham for another Premiership final.

It was a supreme confidence that echoed the dominance of the Leicester sides of the late 1990s and early 2000s, the way they would grind teams down with raw power and finish them off with a bit of finesse.

Then, it all came crashing down. Multiple breaches of the salary cap, points deductions and relegation from the Premiership. Yet, players stayed loyal.

The year in the Championship brought a surreal scenario of England stars rocking up at Ampthill, Cornish Pirates and at Coventry. They got the job done though, they cruised back into the Premiership, and haven't looked back...

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For fans who saw their teams routinely pummelled by Leicester Tigers during the 1990s and 2000s, there was probably very little sympathy for their plight in recent seasons.

Struggles at the wrong end of the Premiership had replaced fighting for titles at one of the most recognisable clubs in world rugby union.

Enter Steve Borthwick. Enter Kevin Sinfield. Enter Richard Wigglesworth. The head coach has aligned himself with bright minds to run defence and attack, and the results have been staggering.

Relegation avoided in the first year, top six finish in the second, top of the pile and a Premiership final in the third.

Remarkable.

"I want us to be the best versions of ourselves right now, in this moment," Borthwick said of today's game.

"After this game we'll deal with whatever comes next, and I'm not bothered about what happened in the past.

"Where we are right now is all we can control. That's the theme this week."

The beauty of this final is there are so many plotlines, it could carry a soap opera.

But there's nowt banal and lightweight about this encounter. Strictly heavyweight.

Both sides have had journeys to come through over the past few years, and some intriguing stories with it.

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Richard Wigglesworth is the big call from Leicester boss Steve Borthwick, as the veteran scrum-half gets the nod ahead of Ben Youngs - will come off the bench.

Alex Goode will match Wigglesworth in appearing in a record eighth final as he starts at full-back for Saracens. Nick Isiekwe is the only change, replacing Tim Swinson in the second-row.

Leicester Tigers: Steward; Ashton, Moroni, Porter, Potter; Ford, Wigglesworth; Genge (capt), Montoya, Cole, Chessum, Green, Liebenberg, Reffell, Wiese.

Replacements: Clare, Leatigaga, Heyes, Wells, Martin, Youngs, Burns, Scott.

Saracens: Goode; Malins, Daly, Tompkins, Maitland; Farrell (capt), Davies; M Vunipola, George, Koch, Itoje, Isiekwe, McFarland, Earl, B Vunipola.

Replacements: Pifeleti, Mawi, Clarey, Wray, Christie, Van Zyl, Taylor, Lozowski.

Referee: Wayne Barnes.

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Hello then, and welcome.

It's the old guard, against the new. In terms of periods of dominance anyway.

If you're of a certain age, Leicester were the team to beat. Big characters, big shoulders, big brawn [Austin Healey aside], big success.

Saracens kind of picked up that baton in the 2010s, after the Tigers lost their way it was them and Exeter who wrote the new script.

There was always something extra ruthless about Sarries though. In that old Tigers mould of getting the job done.

Today they meet to decide champions for the season. It's been a long slog and this is the last lap.