Leicester City 2-1 Brentford: Castagne and Maddison goals hand Foxes win
- Published
- comments
Timothy Castagne's goal was his first in the Premier League since April 2021
Timothy Castagne and James Maddison both scored brilliant goals as Leicester beat Brentford to move into the top half of the Premier League.
Castagne, on his first appearance of 2022 following injury, hit a swerving effort into the top corner from outside the box from Harvey Barnes' cutback.
And Maddison curled a fantastic 25-yard free-kick into the other corner after he was fouled.
It capped a good week for Leicester, who clinched a Europa Conference League quarter-final spot on Thursday in Rennes.
Brentford pulled one back late on as Bryan Mbeumo found Yoane Wissa, who drove a shot in from 20 yards.
The Bees pushed for an unlikely equaliser and Kasper Schmeichel had to save a deflected shot from Premier League debutant Tariqe Fosu.
Things are looking up for Leicester
Leicester City 2-1 Brentford: Brendan Rodgers 'very proud' of Leicester after 2-1 victory
Leicester have struggled this season with injuries to most of their first-choice defenders - but suddenly they are all returning.
Wesley Fofana made his first appearance of the season on Thursday but was left out here as the Foxes manage his return.
Castagne had been out since 28 December and he was replaced in the second half by Jonny Evans for his first game since 12 December.
However Rodgers revealed afterwards that midfielder Wilfred Ndidi could miss the rest of the season with a knee injury suffered on Thursday.
It is too late to mount a challenge for the top seven in the Premier League but they have a realistic chance of winning the new Europa Conference League - in which they face PSV in the last eight.
They were deserved winners against Brentford thanks to those Castagne and Maddison goals from outside the box - although they were hanging on a bit at the end.
Ex-Foxes striker Paul Dickov told BBC Radio 5 Live: "Timothy Castagne's goal has to be up there for goal of the season. He looked a little bit rusty for the first 10 minutes but was excellent after that."
Maddison has scored 13 Premier League goals outside the box since his Leicester debut in 2018-19, more than anybody else.
Brendan Rodgers' side had other chances too - with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Maddison forcing saves from David Raya and Kelechi Iheanacho chipping wide after a good run from the halfway line.
Too late for a comeback
Leicester City 2-1 Brentford: Thomas Frank - Brentford not aggressive or brave enough
Brentford - who were without Christian Eriksen through Covid - were hoping to win three consecutive top-flight matches for the first time in more than 75 years - but they left it too late to fight back.
Ivan Toney, who scored five goals in their two wins over Norwich and Burnley, was starved of service.
Pontus Jansson and Bryan Mbeumo both had headers saved by Schmeichel before Wissa's late breakthrough - but they could not find a leveller.
Thomas Frank's side are not yet safe from relegation, but sitting eight points above the drop zone a few points here and there should be enough.
Our coverage of your Premier League club is bigger and better than ever before - here's everything you need to know to make sure you never miss a moment
