Maddison ends drought as Leicester beat Brentford

James Maddison ended an eight-month scoring drought to earn Leicester back-to-back league wins with a 2-1 victory at Brentford.

The midfielder, whose last goal came against Aston Villa on February 21, tapped in Patson Daka’s square ball in what was something of a smash-and-grab victory for Brendan Rodgers’ team.

They held a half-time lead in west London despite posting an xG of just 0.05 courtesy of a goal-of-the-season contender from Youri Tielemans, whose first-time piledriver from 25 yards beat a helpless David Raya 14 minutes in.

Mathias ‘Zanka’ Jorgensen, starting only his third league game for Brentford, glanced in a deserved equaliser from Mathias Jensen’s corner on the hour before the Bees stepped up their search for a winner.

But a counter-attack of quality saw Tielemans send half-time substitute Daka away and he teed up Maddison for a simple finish to claim victory for the visitors, as Leicester jumped above their hosts and into ninth.

Evans inspires Leicester as Bees lack sting

Leicester’s inconsistency has been the main driver behind their early-season woes and for much of the game in west London they looked a shadow of the side who swept aside Manchester United last weekend. They could have been behind inside six minutes with both Christian Norgaard and Pontus Jansson going close, before Ivan Toney’s close-range finish was ruled out for an earlier offside.

Before the interval, they managed only a single touch inside the Brentford box but did not need any to take the lead. Maddison’s free-kick was nodded clear by Rico Henry to Tielemans, whose perfect 25-yard volley was past Raya and into the top corner before he knew it.

Leicester’s limited quality on the ball was countered by an increasingly comfortable defensive performance, with Kasper Schmeichel’s save to turn Toney’s header over the bar their closest brush with conceding an equaliser.

Brentford took a while to build up any second-half momentum but when they did, the Foxes’ backline was quickly breached. Jensen’s corner from the left was turned home by Zanka’s glancing header. He may have been attempting a flick-on, but he was certainly not complaining scoring against Leicester in his second consecutive appearance against them to level up.

Just as Brentford began to push for another, and moments after Jonny Evans bundled a Jansson shot behind for a Bees corner, a sucker-punch on the break caught them cold.

Schmeichel bowled the ball out to Kelechi Iheanacho on the half-way line and from his lay-off, Tielemans’ first-time through-ball gave Daka a clear route to goal. With Raya closing him down, he squared for Maddison to end a run of more than 1,000 minutes without a goal to restore the Foxes’ lead.

Brentford continued to press but with an Evans-inspired Leicester more resolute defensively than has been seen for much of this season, even seven minutes of added time could not produce a way through for the hosts, who fell to back-to-back home defeats for the first time in three years.

What’s next?

Brentford travel to Stoke in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night; kick-off at 7.45pm.

On the same evening Leicester host Brighton in their fourth-round tie at the King Power Stadium; kick-off at 7.45pm.