Leicester boss Nigel Pearson stressed after his team’s 2-1 win over West Ham on Saturday that they were likely to need something similar four or five more times to beat the drop.

The victory, the Foxes’ first in nine Premier League matches, gave their survival bid a considerable boost as the gap between Pearson’s bottom-placed side and safety was reduced to four points.

The manager was delighted with the outcome, which he felt was no less than was deserved for a Leicester outfit he believes have been unfortunate not to collect more points of late.

But Pearson was also keen to emphasise that it was still a “big ask” for the club, who have 22 points from 30 games and play at home five more times in their eight remaining fixtures, to avoid relegation.

“It is still a big ask for us to achieve retaining our Premier League status at this point,” Pearson said.

“We have five games left at home and we have to give ourselves the best chance by performing as positively as we have done today.

“Today I think we got what we deserved, but we have to do what we have done today maybe four or five times more between now and the end of the season.

“Before the game started today we were looking at a season of nine games, with six of them at home, and we know we have to produce.”

Leicester began the contest well as Esteban Cambiasso’s sweet strike put them 1-0 up in the 12th minute and they were awarded a penalty three minutes later, but David Nugent’s spot-kick was saved by Adrian.

It looked for a long time as if they would be left to rue that moment, with Cheikhou Kouyate equalising on 32 minutes but Leicester snatched victory in the 86th minute when substitute Andy King diverted in a Jamie Vardy shot.