Leicester City secured their passage into the next round of the FA Cup on Sunday afternoon, being victorious over SkyBet Championship outfit Brentford by three goals to one

Brentford went ahead in the sixth minute as Leicester’s set-piece woes continued in the first half after Mads Bech Sørensen stabbed the ball home. Leicester managed to get a quick-fire double in the first five minutes of the second period thanks to goals from Cengiz Under and Youri Tielemans. James Maddison then went on to add a third in the 71st minute. 

  • Maddison continues astonishing form

Making his 100th appearance in a Leicester shirt at the weekend, James Maddison continued his red-hot scoring form at the weekend as he pounced on the rebound of Harvey Barnes’ shot. Maddison has been directly involved in 13 goals in 24 games for Leicester in 2020-21 (nine goals, four assists). He was the provider also to Cengiz Under’s equaliser. 

The creative midfielder will be wanting to catch the eye of Gareth Southgate with UEFA European Championships coming up this summer. With his recent form, he has to be in the thoughts of Southgate. 

He’s arguably playing the best football of his life at the moment being able to find the back of the net in any way. Whether it’s a long range effort, through on goal, or scrappy play in the box, it seems when the English youngster touches the ball it turns into a goal. 

Now without Jamie Vardy, who will undergo surgery on his hernia, seeing Maddison on the scoresheet regularly and recently, will give Leicester more hope in the coming weeks with the Foxes key striker sidelined. 

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  • Under impresses

It seemed Under was eager to convince Brendan Rodgers about his quality Sunday afternoon and he certainly did that after causing Fin Stevens issues all game. Adding to his excellent performance he got the equaliser just 49 seconds into the second half after curling the ball into the bottom corner.

The Turkish winger on loan from Roma hasn’t played since the 16th of December when he came on as a substitute against Everton. He has suffered from a hamstring injury recently so that was most likely the reason he was replaced by Kelechi Iheanacho in the 76th minute. If it wasn’t for him returning from his absence, Rodgers may have been tempted to play him for the full 90 minutes. 

He was brought in by the Northern-Irishman in the summer transfer window, and despite slight consistency so far, he proved a point at the weekend. In his 13 appearances at Leicester he’s had five goal involvement (2 goals, 3 assists). In those games, he’s only managed to reach 90 minutes twice. He’s still adapting to English football but his display against Brentford showed his effectiveness.

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  • Players return from injury

In the early stages of the Premier League season, Leicester suffered injuries with Ricardo Pereira, Caglar Soyuncu, and Wilfred Ndidi. Unfortunately Vardy and Dennis Praet are out for the Foxes but some key players that have been missing are now finally returning/returned. 

Ndidi now looks to be back to his best in the Leicester side, seeing him make his 10th appearance since his return in the squad against Brentford. The Nigerian has bossed his central role on numerous occasions. 

Caglar Soyuncu also started his first game since the Zorya Luhansk trip. The Turkish International has come off the bench three times since his injury but now looks to return to the starting eleven. He played a beneficial full 90 minutes against Brentford on Sunday afternoon.

Ricardo Pereira has been injured for months upon months but it finally looks like he’s recovered from his horrific knee injury which has kept him out. He played in the UEFA Europa League tie against Zorya Luhansk after being sidelined for nine months, disappointingly he then went onto sustain a groin strain keeping him out even longer. He managed to get a fantastic 70 minutes in the tank in the FA Cup, a great start in his road to getting back to full fitness.

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