Leicester City 1-0 Birmingham City, FA Cup fifth round: Ricardo Pereira scores late winner
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FA Cup: Leicester City 1-0 Birmingham City highlights
Ricardo Pereira's late header sent Leicester into the FA Cup quarter-finals at the expense of in-form Championship side Birmingham.
The full-back guided Marc Albrighton's cross past Lee Camp to settle the tie just when it looked as if extra time was inevitable.
The Foxes - who had not scored in the previous four games - fully deserved their first victory in six matches.
James Maddison had earlier gone close to breaking the deadlock when his 25-yard shot hit the crossbar.
The Foxes will play Chelsea at home in the quarter-finals on the weekend of 21 March.
Form counts for nothing in this one
Ricardo Pereira heads in a late goal for Leicester
Birmingham came into the game unbeaten in 13 matches, a run going back to New Year's Day, as they have climbed from relegation trouble in the Championship to mid-table safety.
But they rarely looked like scoring in front of their impressive 5,129 away fans who made the trip across the midlands.
Leicester named a strong team, with Wilfred Ndidi making his first start in a month following a knee injury.
They dominated with 76.7% of the ball, although Ricardo's header was one of only two efforts on target.
Brendan Rodgers' side could have won by more though with Maddison rattling the bar after his shot took a small deflection.
Kelechi Iheanacho had a goal rightly ruled out for offside as he raced on to Maddison's through ball before rounding Camp to score.
Blues' best spell came in injury time when Lukas Jutkiewicz fired over the bar and Harlee Dean had a shot saved. But their cup run is over as the Foxes deservedly move into the last eight.
'It was just a matter of time' - what the managers said
Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers told BBC Sport: "It was always was going to be [a tough game]. Their record unbeaten tells you how well organised and resilient they are.
"I thought it was just a matter of time [before we scored]. In the second half we dominated - lots of quick combos and the goal was coming. It was an excellent display. Some real good moments of play against a team who make it very difficult for you.
"The performance was very good. When you go 1-0 up it becomes a war in the last few minutes. We stood up to it very well."
Birmingham manager Pep Clotet told BBC Sport: "We always try. We were not naive. We knew we needed to be organised. We had a solid performance - showed organisation and worked hard. They only had two shots on target.
"That little bit of quality yielded a goal. But afterwards we went higher and tried to get a goal. We fought until the end. I'm proud of the effort of the team.
"It's a massive disappointment to all of us, especially the players. Birmingham deserved to get to extra time with the effort we put in and how smart everyone played.
"That's the difference when you play with a team with such quality. Any chance can cost you a result. We need to congratulate Leicester because they made it through. We're still on the build and we need to keep going."
Match stats - Foxes matching 1969 run?
Leicester have won three consecutive FA Cup games without conceding a goal for the first time since March 1969 - the last season in which they reached the FA Cup final.
Birmingham were beaten for the first time since New Year's Day (against Wigan), ending a run of 13 games without a defeat across all competitions (W5 D8).
Leicester have won each of their past nine FA Cup home games against sides from a lower division, in a run dating back to the start of the 2008-09 campaign.
Foxes manager Brendan Rodgers has seen his sides keep a clean sheet in each of his past five home games in the FA Cup (W3 D2), with each of the past two coming while in charge of Leicester (three for Liverpool).
Ricardo Pereira has now scored four goals for Leicester in 2019-20 - only Wolves' Matt Doherty (seven) has netted more among Premier League defenders in all competitions.