The FA Cup - Fifth Round
LeicesterLeicester City1BrightonBrighton & Hove Albion0

FA Cup: Leicester 1-0 Brighton: Kelechi Iheanacho scores winner

By Shamoon HafezBBC Sport

Kelechi Iheanacho scored a 94th-minute winner as Leicester edged past Brighton to reach the FA Cup quarter-finals.

Substitute Iheanacho nodded in from Youri Tielemans' cross to settle an otherwise unremarkable contest.

With both sides making seven changes for the tie, the first half was a slow burner and neither team were able to register a single shot on target.

The second half improved slightly with Andi Zeqiri and Cengiz Under both having efforts ruled out for offside.

The quarter-final draw takes place on Thursday, with matches being played across the weekend of 20-21 March.

Brendan Rodgers' side, now beaten just once in 13 games, reached the last eight of the competition for the second successive season - and will be boosted by news that a nasty-looking knee injury to James Justin is not as bad as was first feared.

The in-form English full-back landed awkwardly in the second half and seemed to jar his leg on impact with the turf. He was carried off on a stretcher.

Rodgers said: "Hopefully it's not as bad as what it first seemed. He said he could have walked off and after five minutes in the changing room it eased up.

"On first look there's nothing major, which is good news."

Kelechi Iheanacho
Kelechi Iheanacho scored his fifth goal of the season

The two best openings of a lacklustre 45 minutes fell to Adam Lallana but the Brighton midfielder was unable to work goalkeeper Danny Ward with either of his strikes from outside the area.

The lively Zeqiri curled wide and had a low shot kept out by Leicester's second-choice keeper Ward. At the other end Turkey international Under's effort, following a lovely one-two with James Maddison, was pushed away by Christian Walton.

With the prospect of extra time and penalties looming on a chilly evening, the Foxes played a quick corner deep in injury time and Iheanacho popped up to nod home his fifth of the season.

What they said

Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers: "I believe we have improved. The mentality in the team has grown over the past year. Let's see if we can make the next step; let's see who we get.

"Everyone was delighted it wasn't half hour more for extra time. The game was a bit broken and there weren't so many chances.

"You have to keep going and keep fighting. It's another clean sheet, a great win, players getting minutes and getting through to the quarter-finals again."

Brighton manager Graham Potter: "We're disappointed; we put such a lot into the game. There were some tired minds on the pitch and we switched off a little bit.

"Our performance was really good; we more than matched them. We're happy about that but disappointed with the result."

Cup specialist Kelechi - the stats

  • Leicester City have reached the quarter-finals of the FA Cup in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 1968-69.
  • Leicester remain unbeaten in eight matches in all competitions against Brighton (W6 D2), conceding just twice in this run.
  • Brighton have lost their first ever English domestic cup match against Leicester, having progressed from each of their previous three such ties against the Foxes in either the FA Cup or League Cup.
  • Brighton have conceded just three goals in the FA Cup this season, all of which came in added on time - the 46th minute against Blackpool, the 96th at Newport and the 94th minute at Leicester.
  • Leicester's Kelechi Iheanacho scored his 11th FA Cup goal on his 17th appearance in the competition, and his first since January 2020 against Brentford.
  • All four shots on target in the match arrived after the 82nd minute (three for Leicester, one for Brighton), including Kelechi Iheanacho's 94th-minute winner.

Player of the match

IheanachoKelechi Iheanacho

with an average of 6.94

Leicester City

  1. Squad number14Player nameIheanacho
    Average rating

    6.94

  2. Squad number2Player nameJustin
    Average rating

    6.79

  3. Squad number10Player nameMaddison
    Average rating

    6.50

  4. Squad number8Player nameTielemans
    Average rating

    6.42

  5. Squad number25Player nameNdidi
    Average rating

    6.21

  6. Squad number4Player nameSĂśyĂźncĂź
    Average rating

    6.18

  7. Squad number9Player nameVardy
    Average rating

    6.15

  8. Squad number46Player nameDaley-Campbell
    Average rating

    6.15

  9. Squad number28Player nameFuchs
    Average rating

    6.07

  10. Squad number20Player nameChoudhury
    Average rating

    5.94

  11. Squad number33Player nameThomas
    Average rating

    5.87

  12. Squad number19Player nameÜnder
    Average rating

    5.80

  13. Squad number18Player nameAmartey
    Average rating

    5.72

  14. Squad number12Player nameWard
    Average rating

    5.66

  15. Squad number17Player nameAyoze PĂŠrez
    Average rating

    5.26

Brighton & Hove Albion

  1. Squad number5Player nameDunk
    Average rating

    6.70

  2. Squad number3Player nameWhite
    Average rating

    6.47

  3. Squad number29Player nameZeqiri
    Average rating

    6.44

  4. Squad number6Player nameKarbownik
    Average rating

    6.39

  5. Squad number15Player nameModer
    Average rating

    6.39

  6. Squad number22Player nameTau
    Average rating

    6.38

  7. Squad number17Player nameAlzate
    Average rating

    6.37

  8. Squad number14Player nameLallana
    Average rating

    6.36

  9. Squad number31Player nameWalton
    Average rating

    6.30

  10. Squad number13Player nameGroß
    Average rating

    6.26

  11. Squad number10Player nameMac Allister
    Average rating

    6.23

  12. Squad number33Player nameBurn
    Average rating

    6.17

  13. Squad number8Player nameBissouma
    Average rating

    6.10

  14. Squad number34Player nameVeltman
    Average rating

    5.84

Line-ups

Leicester

Formation 3-4-3

  • 12Ward
  • 18Amartey
  • 4SĂśyĂźncĂź
  • 2JustinSubstituted forFuchsat 75'minutes
  • 46Daley-Campbell
  • 25NdidiSubstituted forChoudhuryat 62'minutes
  • 8TielemansBooked at 52mins
  • 33Thomas
  • 19Ünder
  • 9VardySubstituted forIheanachoat 62'minutes
  • 17PĂŠrezBooked at 44minsSubstituted forMaddisonat 62'minutes

Substitutes

  • 1Schmeichel
  • 6Evans
  • 10Maddison
  • 11Albrighton
  • 14Iheanacho
  • 15Barnes
  • 20Choudhury
  • 28Fuchs
  • 50Tavares

Brighton

Formation 3-5-2

  • 31Walton
  • 3WhiteSubstituted forVeltmanat 71'minutes
  • 5Dunk
  • 33Burn
  • 6Karbownik
  • 13Groß
  • 14LallanaSubstituted forBissoumaat 79'minutesBooked at 90mins
  • 15Moder
  • 17AlzateSubstituted forMac Allisterat 79'minutes
  • 22Tau
  • 29Zeqiri

Substitutes

  • 7Connolly
  • 8Bissouma
  • 9Maupay
  • 10Mac Allister
  • 18Welbeck
  • 23Steele
  • 25Caicedo
  • 34Veltman
  • 54Weir
Referee:
Mike Dean

Match Stats

Home TeamLeicesterAway TeamBrighton
Possession
Home54%
Away46%
Shots
Home10
Away7
Shots on Target
Home3
Away1
Corners
Home7
Away3
Fouls
Home8
Away7

Live Text

  1. Post update

    Match ends, Leicester City 1, Brighton and Hove Albion 0.

  2. Full Time

    Second Half ends, Leicester City 1, Brighton and Hove Albion 0.

  3. Goal!

    Goal! Leicester City 1, Brighton and Hove Albion 0. Kelechi Iheanacho (Leicester City) header from very close range to the centre of the goal. Assisted by Youri Tielemans with a cross following a corner.

  4. Post update

    Corner, Leicester City. Conceded by Christian Walton.

  5. Post update

    Attempt saved. Youri Tielemans (Leicester City) right footed shot from the right side of the six yard box is saved in the bottom right corner. Assisted by Vontae Daley-Campbell.

  6. Post update

    Attempt blocked. Cengiz Ünder (Leicester City) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Hamza Choudhury.

  7. Post update

    Attempt blocked. Youri Tielemans (Leicester City) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.

  8. Booking

    Yves Bissouma (Brighton and Hove Albion) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

  9. Post update

    James Maddison (Leicester City) wins a free kick in the attacking half.

  10. Post update

    Foul by Yves Bissouma (Brighton and Hove Albion).

  11. Post update

    Cengiz Ünder (Leicester City) wins a free kick on the right wing.

  12. Post update

    Foul by Yves Bissouma (Brighton and Hove Albion).

  13. Post update

    Corner, Leicester City. Conceded by Christian Walton.

  14. Post update

    Attempt saved. Cengiz Ünder (Leicester City) left footed shot from a difficult angle on the right is saved in the bottom right corner. Assisted by James Maddison.

  15. Post update

    Attempt saved. Andi Zeqiri (Brighton and Hove Albion) left footed shot from the left side of the box is saved in the bottom right corner. Assisted by Percy Tau.

  16. Post update

    James Maddison (Leicester City) wins a free kick on the right wing.

  17. Post update

    Foul by Alexis Mac Allister (Brighton and Hove Albion).

  18. Substitution

    Substitution, Brighton and Hove Albion. Alexis Mac Allister replaces Steven Alzate.

  19. Substitution

    Substitution, Brighton and Hove Albion. Yves Bissouma replaces Adam Lallana.

  20. Post update

    Daniel Amartey (Leicester City) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

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