Try-scorer Johne Murphy was a late replacement for Alesana Tuilagi
Lewis Moody scored a brace of tries as Leicester thrashed Newcastle to return to the top of the Premiership table.
The Falcons lost their entire front row to injury before kick-off and were blown away by four converted tries inside the first half hour.
Moody's tries were sandwiched by scores from Johne Murphy and Toby Flood, who slotted all four conversions.
Newcastle improved after the break, with Charlie Amesbury going over before Jeremy Staunton kicked a late penalty.
The Falcons' chances suffered a devastating blow before kick-off when front-row forwards Carl Hayman (back), Jon Golding (ankle), Rob Vickers (neck) all failed late fitness tests, along with Alex Tait (hip).
Leicester were also forced into late changes as winger Alesana Tuilagi was forced out of the starting line-up after taking a knock, while replacement prop Boris Stankovich was taken ill.
But it was the Falcons who suffered most with their makeshift pack totally dominated by Leicester up front.
Tom Catterick and Flood both missed penalties before Moody opened the floodgates for the Tigers.
The Tigers' pack turned over a Newcastle scrum five metres out and a back-row drive ended with Moody scoring near the posts.
The visitors made it 14-0 when Ben Young's floated pass put Johne Murphy over in the corner and Flood added the extras.
Flood cruising through under the posts after Newcastle had lost their third line-out in a row and Moody burst through some weak tackles to grab his second after 34 minutes.
Newcastle showed more fight in the second half, finally getting on the scoreboard when Amesbury latched onto Gcobanai Bobo's clever kick and touched down.
Leicester were happy to give their replacements a run-out in a low key last quarter and Staunton's late penalty merely added gloss to the scoreline of a game which had long been decided.
Leicester move three points clear of Northampton, who have a game in hand, with Saracens a further four points back.
Leicester coach Richard Cockerill: "We want to finish top of the table. We did that last year and we want to retain it.
"It's a tough league week in, week out and we want to finish top of it again.
"We're a good side and if we play well, we will cause any side problems, but the focus has to be on doing the simple things well which we did today."
Newcastle coach Steve Bates told BBC Newcastle:
"We were a bit unlucky at times but Leicester dominated with the wind.
"We tried to get something out of the second half and from our perspective that we came out and showed a bit of character.
"We shot ourselves in the foot when we dropped a high ball which they scored from. Some of the stuff we did in the first half got ourselves into a bit of trouble."
Replacements: Catterick for Amesbury (71), Charlton for Young (41), Shiels for Ovens (41), Brooks for Ward (56), Hudson for Swinson (49), Welch for B. Wilson (63), Levi for Williamson (47).
Not Used: Walker.
Sin Bin: Levi (58).
Leicester: G. Murphy, Hamilton, M. Smith, Allen, J. Murphy, Flood, B. Youngs, Ayerza, Davies, Castrogiovanni, L. Deacon, Parling, Croft, Moody, Crane.
Replacements: Amorosino for Allen (71), Staunton for Flood (64), Grindal for B. Youngs (57), R. Harris for Ayerza (68), Chuter for Davies (53), Cole for Castrogiovanni (53), Kay for L. Deacon (64), Newby for Moody (57).
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