Saracens head coach Joe Shaw expects another fierce all-capital clash when his side travel to London Irish in the Gallagher Premiership this weekend.

Sarries edged a 19-10 win over Harlequins at the StoneX Stadium last week and head to the Brentford Community Stadium looking to further cement their place in the top four.

The two sides produced a stonewall classic when they last met in November, drawing 34-34.

And Shaw expects Irish, who won a high-scoring clash away at Bristol Bears last week (49-32), to provide another difficult test this week.

"Irish are a side that don’t give up," said Shaw. “We have played them a few times already this season and they are very impressive.

"We know we are in for a real challenge but we have prepared as well as we can and we are looking forward to going down there.

"They're impressive individually, have got some very talented players and experience across the board and their back three are young and exciting.

"They're well coached. They're similar (to Saracens) in looking to bring in youth to the team.

"I've not been to the ground yet but I've heard it's an amazing place to play at. If you give them opportunities they're more than capable of hurting you."

Away from this week’s game, Shaw also gave the media an update on Owen Farrell’s current injury status.

Farrell was originally supposed to be back in contention a few weeks ago before sustaining damage to his ankle whilst training, having already been out since November after first going on the sidelines following England’s Test match with Australia in November.

“Owen (Farrell) had his operation a few weeks ago and is around our environment and just going through his procedure,” explained Shaw.

“One thing you know with Owen is whatever he does he does to the best of his ability, so at the minute he is head down and doing his rehab.

“He has been brilliant around the organisation with the individuals and meetings and stuff, so he is still very much a part of what we are trying to do to move forward.”