Leicester Tigers captain Ed Slater has admitted that his side cannot afford to lose another game if they are to finish in the Aviva Premiership top four this season.

The Tigers are currently 10th in the league table following a run of three straight defeats which have left them five points off a playoff spot.

Slater, who is sidelined until at least spring time after undergoing knee surgery, acknowledges that victory for Leicester against Harlequins tonight is a must to get their campaign back on track.

"If we lose again it will put us in a very difficult position," he told The Guardian. "Teams who finish in the top four have generally only lost four or five games over the course of the season. We had a very bad game against Bath and the players need to take a bit more responsibility.

"Bullets are flying, [Richard Cockerill] is under pressure and people are asking questions of everything across the board at Leicester. As a club we need to pull together and that starts with the players on the pitch. I've been scratching my eyeballs out watching so I imagine that if I was on the pitch in the middle of it it would be difficult to take.

"But the feeling in the camp is it's not been a true representation of them as players and that's why players need to start taking more responsibility. It's not just down to [Cockerill] and the other guys around the club. As a minimum we expect people to put it in every time we go on to the pitch and maybe people have questioned that over the last three weeks. It can't get much worse for us."

Manu Tuilagi returns to the side for tonight's match at Welford Road, while Marcos Ayerza will be on the bench.