March 21, (THEWILL) – Leicester moved into the top half of the Premier League with a 2-1 win over Brentford courtesy of goals from Timothy Castagne and James Maddison.
Harvey Barnes’ cutback found Castagne, who was making his first appearance of 2022 after an injury, to place in the top corner from outside the box. Maddison then curled a magnificent 25-yard free-kick into the other corner for the second.
Most of Leicester’s first-choice defenders have been injured this season, but they have returned to boost Brendan Rodgers’ squad for the rest of the campaign. Wesley Fofana had his first appearance of the season on Thursday, but he was left out of the home tie on Sunday.
Jonny Evans, who had not played since December 12, came in in the second half to replace Castagne, who had been out since December 28. Castagne’s goal was truly inspiring and, even though he looked a little rusty before he found the net, he improved greatly after that.
There were other chances for Leicester to put the game to bed, with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Maddison pushing David Raya into saves and Kelechi Iheanacho lobbing over the keeper but going wide after a brilliant run from halfway.
Brentford were missing Christian Eriksen due to COVID-19 and fell well short of their attempts to win three consecutive Premier League games for the first time in over 75 years.
Ivan Toney, who scored five goals in two victories over Norwich and Burnley, was underutilised as he was starved of opportunities in the frontline. It took a strike from Yoane Wissa to cut the deficit and give Brentford a fighting chance for an equaliser, enough never came.
Prior to Wissa’s late goal, Pontus Jansson and Bryan Mbeumo both had headers saved by Schmeichel, but they were unable to find a way back into the game. It leaves Thomas Frank’s team still in danger of relegation. However, with eight points above the relegation zone, a few points from their remaining ties should suffice.
For the Foxes, the result capped a successful week. They qualified for the Europa Conference League quarter-finals in Rennes on Thursday and, although it is too late to fight for a place in the EPL top seven, they have a genuine chance of winning the new Europa Conference League, where they are drawn to face PSV in the quarterfinals.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
