The hosts took an early lead when Mads Bech Sorensen poked in and had the better chances during a first-half when a much-changed Leicester side struggled for fluency. Premier League high-flyers Leicester City had to come from behind to avoid an FA Cup upset at Championship promotion hopefuls Brentford.
But the Foxes were transformed after the break, equalising 49 seconds after the restart as James Maddison fed Cengiz Under for a sweeping finish.
Five minutes later, Youri Tielemans was tripped in the box and converted the resulting penalty, while Maddison deservedly got on the scoresheet by following in a rebound. Just as they did when these two sides met at this stage last season, Leicester advance to the fifth round and they will face Brighton next.
Brentford are yet to win against the Foxes in seven attempts in the FA Cup, and have not beaten them in any competition since 1953.
But they still played their part in an entertaining cup tie and showed how they were able to beat four Premier League sides on their run to this season’s Carabao Cup semi-finals.
This was fourth in the Championship versus third in the top flight, albeit the two sides contained a combined 15 changes from their league matches in midweek.
The visitors made a swift start, Under causing problems down the right, only for Brentford to go ahead in the sixth minute. Daniel Amartey needlessly conceded a corner and, when a deflection wrongfooted stand-in Foxes keeper Danny Ward, Sorensen was able to stretch and stab home.
In response, Leicester had plenty of the ball, but Brentford created better chances. Tariqe Fosu and Saman Ghoddos both forced Ward into smart saves.
Behind at the break, Leicester exploded into the second half. Almost straight from the kick-off, Maddison beat two men, then cleverly found Under, who came in from the right to finish inside the far post.
Even before the penalty, Ayoze Perez had two clear chances, only for the pressure to tell when Fosu tripped Tielemans. From that point, Leicester’s control was only interrupted when a long throw from Sorensen caused problems in the penalty area just before the excellent Maddison punished Luke Daniels’ inability to hold Harvey Barnes’ shot.
‘What a player Maddison is’
Brentford manager Thomas Frank: “We delivered a decent performance, especially in the first half. But you always talk about how they will make a fast start in the second half.
“It was a bit of magic by Maddison – what a player by the way. His development has been fantastic.
“That assist, his reaction was so quick, his touch and decision making are incredible and so is his work rate. That’s what makes him a top, top player.” Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers told BT Sport: “I thought the performance throughout the game was very good. We started well but gave away a cheap goal.
“The rhythm and flow of our game in the second half was exceptional. It’s a very good win. Brentford really tested us. “We’ve got goals in the team, players playing with a high level of confidence. There were other moments where we could have scored more.
“If we want to challenge and want to win things, we have to go deep into competitions. I’m very happy with the physicality of the players from that point of view.”
Leicester on the spot – the stats
- Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers has reached the fifth round in his past four FA Cup campaigns – twice with Liverpool and twice with Leicester.
- Brentford have been eliminated from 13 of their past 14 FA Cup ties against top-flight opponents, with a 2-1 victory over Sunderland in January 2006 the exception in this run.
- Leicester have scored three or more goals in consecutive FA Cup games for the first time since November 2008.
- No Premier League side have won more penalties (12), or converted more (10), than the Foxes this season.
- Maddison has been directly involved in 13 goals in 24 games for Leicester in 2020-21 (nine goals, four assists), one more than he managed in 38 matches last term (12).
- Brentford defender Sorensen scored his first senior goal in English football on his 40th appearance.
