St Helens have brought in teenage prop Carl Forster for the visit of Widnes to Langtree Park on Friday evening.
Forster comes in for Josh Perry, who is out with a leg injury, while fellow 19-year-old front-rower Joe Greenwood is pushing for a first appearance after being included in Mike Rush's initial 19-man squad.Saints claimed a narrow 40-38 victory against the Vikings in the Carnegie Challenge Cup last weekend and face an instant rematch with their local rivals.
Winger Adam Swift keeps his spot after making his debut in the cup contest, with Jamie Foster still unable to earn a recall to the side.
Lee Gaskell is back in the squad, but acting coach Rush is expected to continue with Lance Hohaia and Jonny Lomax at half-back.
"It will be awkward facing the same team again as we helped them in the last nine minutes last weekend," Rush told his club's official website of the upcoming clash.
"For 71 minutes we were in control and then they ran over us. We were inches away from scoring on a couple of occasions and we should have put the game to bed early.
"We've had a couple of days to gather our thoughts and we will come back refreshed.
"We want to perform well at home as good performances breed confidence. I want us to get better each week as that gives ourselves the best shot of winning something."
Half-back Joe Mellor is set to feature for Widnes after he re-joined the club on a month-long loan from Wigan recently. He replaces scrum-half Rhys Hanbury, who is out injured.
Three-quarters Stefan Marsh and Cameron Phelps are also named in head coach Dennis Betts' 19-man squad after returning from
The Vikings will be hoping to avoid defeat and climb off the foot of the Super League table, while St Helens are chasing a fifth win in six matches in all competitions after parting company with Royce Simmons.
St Helens squad: Wellens, Shenton, Soliola, Meli, Hohaia, Lomax, Roby, McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Flannery, Laffranchi, Flanagan, Clough, Magennis, Dixon, Gaskell, Forster, J. Jones, Greenwood, Swift.
Widnes squad: Ah Van, Allen, Cahill, Clarke, Craven, Cross, Dean, Flynn, Haggerty, Isa, J. Kite, Leuluai, Marsh, Mellor, Mullally, Phelps, Pickersgill, White, Winterstein.