Chris Ashton equalled the Premiership all-time try-scoring record as his double helped league leaders Leicester to an impressive 22-17 win at Exeter.

Ashton intercept for the visitors' third after the restart equalled Tom Varndell's mark of 92 top-flight tries.

Dave Ewers and Patrick Schickerling's tries for Exeter made for a tense end.

Joe Simmonds' penalty with four minutes left ensured a losing bonus point for Exeter as the Chiefs tried hard to get a winning score in the final moments, but ultimately came up short.

Leicester's first win at Exeter in almost eight years sees them lead the Premiership by 12 points from second-placed Saracens and guarantees them a top-four finish.

Exeter remain fourth, two points above Sale and three clear of Gloucester who have a game in hand and are awaiting on a ruling after Worcester were unable to fulfil their fixture on Friday night.

Leicester started strongly, forcing three penalties close to the Exeter line before George Ford's beautifully judged cross-field kick found Ashton on the right wing and the former England winger caught superbly to dot down.

The visitors pinned Exeter into their own half for much of the first period through a combination of their own indiscipline - they conceded eight penalties and had Jacques Vermeulen sin-binned for a deliberate knock on after 24 minutes - and Ford's excellent tactical kicking with the wind at his back.

It was a kick that led to the second try after half an hour as Ben Youngs chipped over, the bounce wrong-footed Olly Woodburn and Steward was gather and go over with Exeter still down to 14.

Leicester were dealt a blow in the build up to the try with England back Ford limping off with a leg injury, but the Tigers continued to restrict the Chiefs until the final minute when Dave Ewers was held up over the line after the first bit of sustained pressure from the hosts.

Ashton silenced Sandy Park for a second time as he picked off Ian Whitten's pass and ran in from 40 metres before fellow Tigers winger Nemani Nadolo was sin-binned for a deliberate knock on five minutes later.

Exeter finally broke through against 14 men as Ewers forced his way in following multiple phases on the Leicester line, but saw Jonny Gray held up after attempting to go over in similar fashion nine minutes from the end.

But they only had to wait until the next period of play for their second try as replacement tighthead Schickerling went in from close range before Simmonds' penalty gave Exeter and their fans hope which Leicester managed to snuff out.

Exeter director of rugby Rob Baxter told BBC Sport:

"It's been one of those games where we weren't good enough today.

"It does feel like we're finding lots of little ways of just hurting ourselves, and the truth is when we're good we don't find lots of little ways of hurting ourselves, we find lots of ways of keeping the opposition at bay.

"What Leicester have got is that machine-like quality that we have at our best, where you just don't give the opposition lots of opportunities and that means you're two or three count for a lot for you, and that's what Leicester did today, they made their opportunities hurt us and they limited ours."

Leicester director of rugby Steve Borthwick told BBC Sport:

"What we tried to do was put in a good performance against an absolutely outstanding Exeter team.

"You see what a team they are, the way we had to fight at the end there so hard, they're a tremendous team and tremendously well-coached.

"There's lots for us to work upon today, we lost the penalty count quite comprehensively and we need to make sure that doesn't happen again, that made the game so tight.

"There's plenty of things we can work on to get better and that's what I'll spend my attention on over the next few days."

Exeter: Hodge; Woodburn, Slade, Whitten, O'Flaherty; J Simmonds (capt), S Maunder; Hepburn, Innard, Williams, Capstick, Gray, Ewers, Vermeulen, S Simmonds

Replacements: Yeandle, Keast, Schickerling, Witty, Grondona, J Maunder, H Skinner, Cordero

Leicester: Steward, Ashton, Porter, Kelly, Nadolo; Ford, Youngs; Genge (capt), Montoya, Heyes, Wells, Snyman, Chessum, Liebenberg, Wiese

Replacements: Dolly, Whitcombe, Leatigaga, Green, Reffell, van Poortvliet, Burns, Moroni

Referee: Luke Pearce (RFU).