Both Leicester City and Burnley will be aware of the importance of Saturday’s Barclays Premier League fixture, according to Foxes manager Nigel Pearson.

City head to Turf Moor on the back of three straight top flight victories after registering wins over West Ham United, West Bromwich Albion and Swansea City.

A fourth win on the bounce could move Leicester up to 16th, but such is the tight nature of the bottom five, a victory for Burnley could also take them up to the same position.

The Foxes’ recent record against Burnley is an impressive one, having not lost in their last eight meetings with the Clarets.

The momentum and form lies firmly with City, but Pearson knows how tough Saturday’s battle will be.

“We’re acutely aware of how difficult it is in this division,” said the City boss. “We have a lot of respect for Burnley. It’ll have a cup feel to it. Both sides know there’s a lot riding on the result. So bearing that in mind, it’ll be a hard fought game.

“Every encounter we’ve had with them over the last couple of seasons has been a very close affair. They’ve got a very clear identity.

“Most the games that they’ve played, similar to us, they have been very much in. We’ll have to deal with what they’ve got to offer, but of course we’ve got players who are in decent form.

“We’ve got to make sure our own performances are hitting the sorts of standards that we’ve found of late.”

And while City have good reason to be in high spirits after moving off the foot of the Premier League table for the first time since November, Pearson insisted that there is still plenty of work to do if his side are to avoid the drop.

He added: “People come in and might say it’s buoyant, but my perspective on it is that we’ve worked very hard all season. We’re still in the bottom three, so I’m not really too concerned what other people are saying.

“I know that we’ve given ourselves a better chance than we had three weeks ago, but that’s what it is – a better chance. There’s a long way to go and the majority of the games that we have left will have a direct bearing on sides around us.”

