Saracens ran in three first-half tries to beat Wasps 31-14 and consolidate second place in the Premiership table.

Ben Spencer's interception try opened the scoring early on before an Owen Farrell penalty and a Liam Williams try put Sarries 15-0 up after 20 minutes.

Lima Sopoanga's first Wasps try was cancelled out by a Will Skelton effort and two more Farrell penalties.

Farrell kicked a fourth penalty before Nathan Hughes' consolation try for Wasps with Sarries down to 14 men.

Wasps centre Jimmy Gopperth played for the first time since suffering a pre-season anterior cruciate ligament injury, but his side were a shadow of the one that lost to Saracens in his last game - their Premiership semi-final defeat at Allianz Park last season.

Wasps are seventh in the Premiership, four points off the final play-off place with two games to go, while Saracens need one more win to guarantee second place and a home semi-final in the play-offs.

Spencer intercepted Joe Simpson's pass to run 60 metres for the opener and British and Irish Lions full-back Williams rounded off a good move soon after.

Sopanga took advantage when Simpson appeared to be offside as he charged down a Sarries kick before feeding Kearnan Myall, who put the former All Black through for his first five-pointer in 23 games since his summer move from New Zealand.

The 6ft 8in Skelton then raced over for Sarries after a clever short pass from Spencer helped open up a gap in the Wasps defence around the ruck before the break.

Nick Isiekwe was sin-binned with 14 minutes to go for bringing down a Wasps maul on his side's try-line and the hosts took advantage as Hughes went over after a television review to score the only try of a poor second half.

Wasps director of rugby Dai Young:

"We got what we deserved. We were miles off the pace in the first half and came second best in every area.

"We didn't get past four phases so never really fired any shots ourselves.

"The week off last week hasn't done us any favours, we just looked out of aces which is hugely disappointing considering where we are.

Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall:

"I think to back up last weekend emotionally and physically given the scale of the game and at the same place was always going to be a challenge.

"I think the team did well to put in the overall performance that we did, especially in the first half. It was a good performance given what we'd gone through the week before.

"It's the first time we've played more or less the same team in consecutive games for seven matches, trying to fight on two fronts.

"We've come through this unscathed and we can wrap some players up in cotton wool with the final in mind."

Wasps: Le Roux; Watson, Daly, Lovobalavu, Bassett; Sopoaga, Simpson; Zhvania, Johnson (capt), Brookes, Rowlands, Myall, Shields, Carr, Hughes.

Replacements: Cruse, McIntyre, Cooper-Woolley, Matthews, Morris, Hampson, Gopperth, de Jongh.

Saracens: Goode; Strettle, Lozowski, Tompkins, Williams; Farrell, Spencer; Barrington, George, Lamositele, Skelton, Kruis, Itoje, Clark, B. Vunipola.

Replacements: Gray, Thompson-Stringer, Koch, Isiekwe, Burger, H. Taylor, Morris, Lewington.

Referee: Wayne Barnes

For the latest rugby union news follow @bbcrugbyunion on Twitter.