Coach Andy Robinson's side are in desperate need of a confidence boost with the defence of their world title less than a year away.
But Graham Henry's Tri-Nations champions have won 15 of their last 16 Tests and will be keen to lay down a marker ahead of next year's World Cup.
New Zealand won 23-19 when the sides met at Twickenham last November.
We are underdogs, because we are playing undoubtedly the best team in the world," said England skipper Martin Corry, who will switch to the blind-side from number eight.
"It is about flexibility, but while we are underdogs, we want a full-house Twickenham crowd to expect England to win a home Test match.
"We need to go on a run of consistent results to get where New Zealand have got. Last season, we should have beaten them and we were very disappointed, but I believe we learnt a lot from that."
Since then England have lost to Scotland, Ireland and France in the Six Nations and suffered back-to-back defeats against Australia on their summer tour.
The 43-18 reverse in Melbourne took Robinson's tally to 10 defeats in 18 matches since he took over as coach from Sir Clive Woodward in September 2004, and heralded England's worst run of results since 1984.
New Zealand, meanwhile, won 15 straight Tests before a nail-biting 21-20 defeat to South Africa in September deprived them of a Tri-Nations clean sweep.
The All Blacks have won 21 of their 28 meetings against England, who last won in Wellington (15-13) in June 2003 in the build-up to the World Cup.
Robinson's preparations have been thwarted by injury to the likes of Jonny Wilkinson, Stuart Abbott, Mark Cueto, Josh Lewsey and Steve Borthwick.
And World Cup winners Phil Vickery, Lawrence Dallaglio, Steve Thompson and Mike Tindall are only in the early stages of their comebacks from injury.
Wasps wing Paul Sackey, Gloucester centre Anthony Allen and Bristol scrum-half Shaun Perry will make their debuts, while Leicester lock Ben Kay has recovered from a dead leg.
Henry has rested some star names such as flanker Jerry Collins but inspirational fly-half Dan Carter starts after Nick Evans was forced out with a hamstring injury.
Carter is promoted from a bench which includes number eight Rodney So'oialo and wing Sitiveni Sivivatu.
But despite their status as favourites, All Blacks captain Richie McCaw warned his side they must not take England lightly.
"Beware the underdog, especially at home," said McCaw. "Without doubt, England are going to be dangerous. I cannot think of any greater motivation than for everyone to say that you're no good."
The match was arranged as a celebration of the opening of Twickenham's new South Stand, extending the capacity from 74,000 to 82,000.
But it caused controversy between the Rugby Football Union and the Premiership clubs, who claimed it was outside the agreed quota of international matches.
It also marks the first England game since new director of elite rugby Rob Andrew took over, and the first Test on home soil for new assistant coaches Brian Ashton (attack), John Wells (forwards) and Mike Ford (defence).
England also take on Argentina next Saturday, followed by back-to-back Tests with South Africa, while New Zealand face France twice in the next fortnight before completing their tour against Wales.
From BBC sport. Well, it'll be a decent match anyways... and a jolly nice day out
