Gloucester have been bolstered ahead of their West Country derby with Exeter Chiefs on Friday in the Gallagher Premiership by the return of several key players, including fly-half Danny Cipriani and lock Ed Slater. Cipriani starts having not played since tearing a calf muscle in Gloucester"s win over Montpellier back in January, while Slater is on the bench and set to play for the first time since November after recovering from a broken foot. The return of Gloucester"s star No 10 is well-timed, given that Owen Williams has been ruled out of the rest of the Six Nations with a hamstring injury suffered in the warm-up before Wales" game against Ireland last week. Wales squad member Louis Rees-Zammit starts on the wing, while Italy back-row Jake Polledri and scrum-half Callum Braley have also been named on a bench with a six-two split, as Gloucester look to continue their four-game winning run at Kingsholm and strengthen their grip on a top four spot. "As a group of players, we are dealing with that expectation from outside to make the top four," admits centre Billy Twelvetrees. "We were probably a bit of a surprise package last season. Danny [Cipriani] came in and changed the way we played, we applied ourselves and we had some great results getting into the play-offs. Everyone is expecting us to do it again this year. As a group we have said that we have not performed as well as we can, but we are still in the mix for that top four." Gloucester have had almost three weeks to stew over a 34-16 defeat in their last outing away to Bristol before the break for the Six Nations. "We just wanted to get back on the wagon as quick as we can," admits Twelvetrees. "At the same time, it allows you to not get too caught up with what happened in the game, take a more black and white view. As a team we do things wrong, do things right, and you celebrate doing the small things well. "We know how we let Bristol into the game easily and we didn’t stick to some of the plans we spoke about. From that point of view it is an easy fix as long as we bind together as a group. This block of Six Nations fixtures is huge for us." Scotland captain Stuart Hogg starts at full-back for Exeter while Nic White returns at scrum-half. Harry Williams, released by England to play this weekend, starts at tighthead prop for the league leaders, who sit one point ahead of second-placed Northampton Saints.