Leicester City showed signs of their devastating capabilities as they beat East Midlands rivals Derby County to relieve pressure on under-fire Foxes boss Marti Cifuentes.

Bobby De Cordova-Reid's cool finish, after excellent work from Abdul Fatawu and Jordan James, gave the visitors an early lead before Oliver Skipp doubled the advantage with a close-range volley in the 15th minute.

Jordan James made it three on the half-hour mark with an instinctive finish that had Leicester heading towards one of their most convincing wins since they dropped back into the Championship from the Premier League last season.

While Sondre Langas' header from a sublimely-placed Joe Ward free-kick gave Derby a second-half lifeline, Leicester saw out what was only their fourth win in 15 matches dating back to August.

It was just a week ago that chants of 'you will be sacked in the morning' were directed at Cifuentes at the King Power Stadium when Leicester were three down against Sheffield United in a game the Foxes ended up losing 3-2.

With Leicester 3-0 up and, at times, looking irresistible in the first 45 minutes against Derby, there were no such sounds of discontent from the visiting fans.

The lunchtime win lifts Leicester to 11th and above Derby, who slip to 13th ahead of the weekend's remaining games.

The first league meeting of these regional rivals for almost 12 years pulled into sharp focus the wildly different fortunes they have had since 2014.

This is a season in which Leicester City celebrates the 10-year anniversary of their Premier League title win.

The FA Cup was collected, Champions League football was played and the Charity Shield added to the trophy cabinet before two relegations from the Premier League in three seasons landed the Foxes where they are today – mid-table in the Championship and playing catch-up on the teams in the play-off spots.

They started the day below Derby, a club that endured 282 days in administration and relegation to League One in the same season that Leicester reached the Europa Conference League semi-final in 2022.

With Leicester's points haul coming with the caveat that there remains the threat of a points deduction for alleged spending breaches, the win that now has them in the top half of the table reflects a complicated reality.

And with Cifuentes seemingly clinging to his job after back-to-back defeats by Southampton and Sheffield United, the opening goal from De Cordova-Reid was a timely – and much-needed - reminder of what sort of patiently-crafted, incisive football the Spaniard wants from his team.

The second from Skipp was chaotic, with the midfielder finding himself perfectly placed to guide home his first-ever Foxes goal after Derby failed to deal with a James corner skimmed into the penalty area.

The Wales international James last week said that anyone who thinks Leicester could be relegated to League One this season is "out of their mind".

And as if to prove a point, he popped up with a deserved third for the Foxes before the break.

Even before James' goal, the visitors had the ball in the net again with Jordan Ayew's headed finish questionably ruled out for offside.

The closest Derby came to a first-half response was a fierce Ward effort that somehow stayed out after crashing off the underside of the crossbar.

Ward's 63rd-minute set-piece set up Langas for a goal that gave Derby hope of a fightback, but Jakub Stolarczyk's fine save to deny Curtis Nelson late on, and an earlier Jannik Vestergaard clearance from Andi Weimann's goalbound shot ensured a much-needed three points for Leicester.

Leicester City boss Marti Cifuentes told BBC Sport:

"Pressure is part of the job, right? This is never about me, it's about the club, the fans and trying to do the best we can.

"I said from day one, I was very honest, that this will be a rebuilding process, that it could take some time and the target is clear [promotion to the Premier League] because of the size of the club.

"It definitely has not been an easy week, or the last couple of weeks have not been easy, more because of the disappointment of the way we lost games and the way we performed.

"And it's not about me, I'm very aware of what my job is and what my task is and that is what I work for every day.

"The first half was very good, and perhaps we could have scored even more goals, and that's a lot to say after being 3-0 up at half-time against a good team.

"It's easy for me to sit here now after a win like this to say 'that's exactly what we want'. But football is a challenge every week and we will play every game against teams that are well coached, and well prepared and I understand that we always want to perform at this level."

Derby County head coach John Eustace told BBC Sport:

"We always ask for a reaction after we lose and we didn't get that today in that first half [after being beaten a week earlier at Middlesbrough].

"But you are going to lose two or three on the bounce, just like you will win two or three on the bounce. This is the Championship, and it's always about the next game.

"We are disappointed to lose today but we have an opportunity now on Wednesday [against Millwall] to put things right.

"It's about being committed and competitive, that is all I ask for. If we were competitive in the first half, like we were in the second, we would have been fine.

"We have shown all season that we are fighters and that through all disappointing moments we get on with it and we learn from it, and there was never a question in my mind that we wouldn't be competitive in that second half."