Having seen Saracens and Bristol win on Saturday, Exeter knew they had to win at Leicester for the first time since December 2020 if they were to return to the top four.

Bailey's early penalty was cancelled out as Exeter's England winger Immanuel Feyi-Waboso produced a scintillating run from deep inside his own half to glide past a couple of home tacklers before feeding Woodburn 22 metres out as the veteran back went in under the posts.

Slade added a penalty for Exeter before Pearson scored his first Prem try after 14 minutes when Bailey's perfectly weighted kick sat up for the full-back to race in down the left flank.

Adam Radwan had a try ruled out on the half-hour mark after replays could not conclusively prove that he had grounded the ball but Bailey went on to kick a second penalty after a spell of pressure from the hosts.

Slade kicked his second penalty seven minutes from the break, while Bailey responded with a penalty with the final play of the half as the Tigers again pushed for a try before the break.

Shortly after the restart Exeter went back in front as Ikitau dived over in the left corner after a break from his Australia team-mate Tom Hooper set up field position in the Leicester 22.

Ikitau turned provider 10 minutes later as his quick pass against the flow of play put Woodburn in for his second try with 27 minutes left.

Exeter had Woodburn yellow-carded for a deliberate knock-on five minutes later as Leicester encamped themselves deep in the visitors' red zone.

Their pressure eventually told as the Tigers' pack crushed Exeter in a scrum allowing Cracknell to score after they had done well to turn the ball over within 10 metres of the visitors' line.

But Exeter were not to be undone, and back to full strength they struck the decisive blow with seven minutes remaining - Harvey Skinner's superb looping 35-metre pass found the Italian lock on the wing and he dived into the left corner to secure victory.

Slade kicked a penalty in the final minute to complete a victory that also ended any hopes of Bristol Bears making the top four, meaning Exeter's clash with Saracens on Saturday will decide which four teams make the semi-finals.

Leicester: Pearson; Radwan, Wand, Bailey, Hassell-Collins; Titcombe, Van Poortvliet; Smith, Blamire, Heyes, Martin, Chessum (c), Liebenberg, Reffell, Moro.

Replacements: Clare, Van der Flier, Hurd, Henderson, Watson, Cracknell, Whiteley, Kata.

Exeter: Woodburn; Feyi-Waboso, Slade, Ikitau, Ridl; Skinner, Varney; Sio, Norey, Iosefa-Scott, Jenkins (c), Zambonin, Hooper, Roots, Fisilau.

Replacements: Dweba, Burger, Tchumbadze, Tuima, Tshiunza, Cairns, Wimbush, Brown-Bampoe.

Sin-bin: Woodburn (58).

Referee: Anthony Woodthorpe.