Head coach Steve Borthwick will not be distracted by having up to 11 Leicester Tigers players away on international duty for the next three weeks.

They are eight points clear of Saracens at the top of the table before a home match against Bath on Friday.

"The situation is what it is. We will deal with it and adapt accordingly," Borthwick told BBC Radio Leicester.

"I'm not going to talk about players that we do not have available, or the number of players we do not have available. I'm just going to concentrate on preparing the team as well as I possibly can."

Among the 11 Leicester players picked for the autumn internationals are England quintet Ellis Genge, Ben Youngs, George Martin, Freddie Steward and uncapped hooker Nic Dolly.

Dolly's selection by head coach Eddie Jones and Julian Montoya's involvement with Argentina has left the Tigers short of options in the centre of the front row with Charlie Clare injured and Tom Youngs unavailable.

And Borthwick may have to rely on loanee Tom Cowan-Dickie or academy players to supplement his squad, unless Dolly is released when the England squad is decreased midweek.

"Players are released depending on the day of an England fixture. This time it's Saturday, so players are released at the end of Tuesday," he said.

Despite their 100% record, Borthwick insists there is plenty of room for improvement by his team.

"There's plenty of things we've got to improve on. We conceded four tries at the weekend and that is very disappointing," the 42-year-old said.

"We gave away two yellow cards, which is unacceptable, and that gave Northampton an opportunity [to get back] into the game."

"That has been addressed with the team and we aim to be better this week, and that's also looking at how we improve as a coaching team to get the improvements on the field that we need."

He added: "Win, lose or draw, the supporters are what drives Leicester Tigers. They want a team they can be proud of and they understand the position this team was in just a very, very short time ago, and that we need time and a lot of work to get us where we want to be.

"We're not always going to win games. But if we lose a game and the players play well and we're beaten by a better team, I will say thank you to the players for their immense effort."