An early Kelechi Iheanacho goal was enough for Leicester City to book their place in the Fifth Round of the FA Cup at Brentford's expense at Griffin Park on Saturday afternoon.
The Nigerian gave the Premier League outfit a perfect start as he finished off a wonderful team move in just the fourth minute. It was a tough game from then on as a much-changed Bees side impressed against their illustrious opponents but they weren't quite able to carve out an equaliser as Brendan Rodgers' troops progressed.
Story of the Match
Lightning start for Leicester
Starting Iheanacho and Ayoze Perez, who combined on two occasions in the recent 4-1 win against West Ham United, the duo immediately displayed their danger. The Nigerian played through his strike partner within just 20 seconds but Brentford managed to clear.
It only took another few minutes for the Foxes to open the scoring though. Dennis Praet picked out a wonderful cross-field ball towards the marauding James Justin, who put his centre on a plate for Iheanacho to finish with consummate ease.
The hosts responded well to going behind and had a few chances to equalise but Emiliano Marcondes and Halil Dervişoğlu both fired wide. Dominic Thompson then went even closer for Brentford as his low effort forced a fingertip stop out of Leicester stopper Danny Ward.
Bees push for an equaliser
For all of Brentford's pressure in the game, they almost shot themselves in the foot just before the break. Iheanacho exploited acres of space to play through Perez but once again the forward was denied by Luke Daniels. Marc Albrighton then benefited from some more slack defending but lifted his header just over the crossbar.
Thomas Frank's men were the better side after half-time and Marcondes was unfortunate not to get his side level as his deep cross evaded everybody, eventually striking the base of the post.
They continued to be the more threatening of the two though. Luka Racic at first had a spectacular volley tipped over the crossbar. Bryan Mbeumo then thought he had equalised as he finished coolly beyond Ward only to have his goal correctly ruled out for offside.
Brentford probably deserved an equaliser but they were not quite able to lever open Leicester, with Iheanacho's early goal proving enough.
Takeaways
Brentford impress against the big boys
With the Bees currently sitting fifth in the Championship table, they are being talked up as one of the main candidates for promotion to the Premier League. Their performance against Leicester indicates exactly why. The hosts pushed their opponents all of the way, with just a little bit of added quality proving the difference.
Iheanacho a capable deputy
Having suffered an injury in the recent win against West Ham, Jamie Vardy has been ruled out for a couple of games to the anguish of Leicester fans. However, they needn't have worried. With another goal, Kelechi Iheanacho has now taken his season's tally to seven strikes and four assists - and all of that in limited game time. Should he keep up that rate of productivity, there will be no worries about him deputising in the place of the absent Vardy.
Leicester goal signals Rodgers' vision
The Foxes were not quite at their fluent best for large swaths of the game but the early goal from Iheanacho highlights the style of play that Foxes boss Rodgers is implementing at the King Power Stadium. The early strike involved quick, incisive play between Dennis Praet, James Justin and Iheanacho and Rodgers will hope to see a few more of those types of goals in the future.