WORCESTER Warriors aim for their first victory over Leicester Tigers since 2008 in front of a crowd of around 10,000 at Sixways today (3pm).

Tigers are third in the Aviva Premiership and have won their last 11 matches against Warriors in all competitions.

Warriors have beaten Tigers only twice in the top flight — by a margin of four points in both 2005 and 2008.

Worcester were humbled 48-18 by Saracens at Twickenham last weekend, while Tigers beat Bath 21-11 at home.

“Leicester are not as clinical at certain things as Saracens but they are probably very physical in other areas,” said Warriors director of rugby Dean Ryan.

“There’s been a lot of talk about changes to their game but they don’t lose what Leicester are all about.

“The reason why Leicester have been so successful is they are built on pretty solid foundations of physicality in key areas and I don’t expect that to change.”

Tigers’ only defeat in any major competition since last season’s Premiership semi-final was a 19-6 reverse at Exeter Chiefs in November.

“We will be facing the big top four in the next few weeks and over Christmas so we need to keep putting ourselves out there to see where we are at and keep improving,” said Ryan. “We are at home and unbeaten at Sixways this season.”

Warriors will have learned from last Saturday’s sobering defeat at Twickenham when Saracens turned the screw at the start of the second half.

“You look at their kicking game and ours,” said Ryan.

“Every catch we made was under pressure, every ruck we had was under pressure and every kick we did was probably three or four yards too far. Saracens were not under the same pressure.

“We are at a stage where we’re getting a lot of things right, however, the margins of how we improve are tiny but crucial if we want to compete at the highest level.

“We didn’t come away from the game thinking we were anything but second best. Saracens are very good at what they do, so it was a great lesson for us.”

Old Warriors favourite Mike Williams returns to Sixways for the first time in Tiger colours and the forward has been in top form.

Ryan said: “Mikey was great for us. There are a lot of headlines about him and we only wish him well.

“It’s frustrating when we identify talent, put it in the shop window and other clubs are able to take it — but that’s not Mikey’s issue.

“He wanted to play at the top of the game and to find out what it was like.

“He’s finding out he’s doing a pretty good job at it and I don’t think we had any doubts he would.

“There will not be any surprises about what Mikey delivers but I don’t expect to see any less of him this weekend.”

Warriors coaches Sam Vesty and Mefin Davies know what to expect from Leicester after more than 200 appearances between them.

But Leicester’s director of rugby Richard Cockerill said: “We have Graham Kitchener, Richard Blaze (assistant coach) and Williams, who used to play for Worcester so it doesn’t make a difference that Sam or Mefin know the psyche of Leicester Tigers.

“We know their psyche too and have watched plenty of them.”