For greater than an hour Leicester have been annoyed with their League Two combatants Walsall gamely offering resistance however Brendan Rodgers became to his confirmed FA Cup finisher and Kelechi Iheanacho duly delivered. The striker had most effective been at the pitch for 5 mins, as a second-half exchange, however his deflected strike – his seventeenth function within the pageant from 23 appearances – was once sufficient to edge Leicester into the 5th spherical.
Despite dominating ownership and peppering efforts on the Walsall function, Leicester needed to wait till the 68th minute for the leap forward. Youri Tielemans, who struck the winner for Leicester within the 2021 FA Cup ultimate, overlooked a penalty after the smash together with his cannon effort off the publish. But Iheanacho, who has scored probably the most targets within the pageant since his debut in 2016, once more made the variation and equipped a well timed carry for Leicester and welcome reduction from their struggles within the Premier League.
James Maddison made his first get started for Leicester since coming back from the World Cup after improving from his newest knee damage. The Premier League staff decided on a powerful staff with most effective 3 adjustments from ultimate week’s draw towards Brighton.
Patson Daka was once picked to guide the assault with Jamie Vardy no longer within the squad. Walsall returned to motion for the primary time in a fortnight however the League Two membership needed to set up with out their best scorer Danny Johnson following his mortgage recall from Mansfield.
Leicester created the primary vital alternative however Daka was once not able to direct his diving header on track. Andy Williams’ low strike equipped Walsall’s opening try, with goalkeeper Daniel Iversen parrying his shot to protection despite the fact that the offside flag was once raised.
Maddison was once incensed after feeling the entire impact of a robust problem from Robbie Willmott however was once afforded no sympathy via the referee Gavin Ward, who dished out a yellow card to the England midfielder for dissent. The guests have been suffering to search out their fluency and spurned an opportunity to threaten the leap forward with Harvey Barnes harmlessly mis-kicking his volley into the hands of the Walsall goalkeeper Owen Evans.
Daka was once beginning to threaten Leicester however the striker’s low shot at the flip was once conveniently held via Evans. At the opposite finish, Tom Knowles thrashed an formidable volley huge from distance however Walsall weren’t having a look misplaced towards their combatants in spite of their large hole within the soccer pyramid.
Leicester have been passed a golden alternative to open the scoring initially of the second one 1/2 after the linesman satisfied the referee to award a penalty for Isaac Hutchinson’s travel on Daka. Tielemans stepped up however struck the publish, sparking wild celebrations from Walsall.
Roared on via a sellout crowd on the Bescot Stadium, Walsall virtually surprised Leicester right away after the penalty omit with Williams firing a fierce volley over the crossbar. The guests stepped as much as the force and Barnes produced a neat flip within the field however his low strike was once parried via Evans.
The Walsall goalkeeper was once retaining Leicester at bay and reacted sharply to thwart Tielemans and Daka in a quickfire double save. Rodgers presented Iheanacho, at the side of new signing Victor Kristiansen, halfway via the second one 1/2 as his staff driven for the winner.
His adjustments paid off handsomely and Iheanacho’s strike, which deflected off the unlucky Brandon Comley, in the end broke Walsall’s resistance. It was once Iheanacho’s 7th function in his ultimate seven FA Cup appearances. Iheanacho must have added to his mighty report within the ultimate 10 mins however his fierce strike from Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s cutback was once blocked.
Walsall had struggled to create openings and a overdue likelihood got here from a nook however Conor Wilkinson’s header was once simply held via Iversen. A free-kick simply outdoor the penalty space passed them their ultimate alternative however Wilkinson curled his effort huge to sign the top of the League Two membership’s run within the pageant. With Iheanacho concerned, Leicester will fancy their possibilities of some other run to Wembley.