An Insight of Crystal Palace 0 – 7 Chelsea 

Crystal Palace took on Chelsea at Selhurst Park on Friday 27th of September at 19:30pm. 

This was Crystal Palace’s first home game of their first WSL campaign. 

STARTING XI 

Chelsea: Hampton, Bronze, Bright (captain), Björn, Lawrence, Cuthbert, Nüsken, Reiten, James, Kaneryd, Beever-Jones 

Crystal Palace: Yañez, Veje, Gibbons, Cato, Everett, Blanchard, Green, Riley, Gejl, Woodham, Stengel 

KICK OFF: 

As the game gets underway, both teams started to create lots of chances. 

In the 10th minute, Lauren James took a shot against Crystal Palace goalkeeper, Yañez, the ball hits the back of the net however the goal was disallowed.  

In the first 30 minutes, Crystal Palace held up well when attacking and defending. 

Chelsea also created some key attacking chances that could’ve put them in front early on. 

Rytting Kaneryd used her pace down the wing, which led to her finding Beever-Jones unmarked in the centre of the box.  

Aggie Beever-Jones shoots the ball past Yañez to open the score line for Chelsea Women in the 38th minute.  

Half-Time Analysis 

The first-half was packed with both teams creating many counter attacking chances. 

A standout player for Crystal Palace goalkeeper, Shae Yañez. She was forced into many early saves.  

She also helped create chances for the Crystal Palace forwards.  

A standout player for Chelsea was Lucy Bronze, the right-back is very experienced in her role.  

She closed the Crystal Palace forwards down and made sure Chelsea did not concede early on. 

SECOND HALF KICK OFF: 

Early in the second half, in the 48th minute we saw Lucy Bronze get her debut goal for The Blues. 

The ball fell loosely to Lucy Bronze, as she shot the ball, it flew into the top left corner.  

As a debut goal, this goal is one to remember for Lucy Bronze and Chelsea. 

In the 53rd minute, Crystal Palace made their first substitution as they tried to turn the game around. We saw, Molly-Mae Sharpe replace Indiah-Paige Riley. 

Shortly after, Chelsea made a double substitution as they pushed on for more goals.  

This was: Erin Cuthbert off for Wieke Kaptein and Johanna Rytting Kaneryd off for Mayra Ramírez. 

These substitutions made an impact in the game as we saw Lauren James tap the ball into the back of the net after Mayra Ramírez crossed the ball into the box for James to score.  

This was an incredible team building goal as we saw impressive skill from all attacking players. 

In the 64th minute, Chelsea made their next substitutions, this was: Sandy Baltimore and Ève Périsset on who replaces Ashley Lawrence and Lucy Bronze. 

Despite being 3 – 0 down, Crystal Palace showed resilience and kept making their counter attacking chances in every chance they had. With that, they kept their defensive line strong. 

For Chelsea’s last substitution of the evening, we saw Sjoeke Nüsken being replaced by Catarina Macario. 

In the 74th minute, Guro Reiten got her first goal of the Women’s Super League Campaign.  

This goal was assisted by Chelsea substitution, Wieke Kaptein.  

Not long after that, Nathalie Björn scored in the 78th minute.  

She had her foot out at the right time in the right place, the ball bounced off of her foot and hit the back of the net. 

Crystal Palace made a substitution in the 79th minute, as we saw Abbie Larkin replace Josie Green.  

Chelsea was running away with the three points, however, with that being said, Guro Reiten gets her second goal of the evening.  

Crystal Palace made their final substitutions of the evening. 

During this change, we saw: Ashleigh Weerden and Poppy Pritchard enter the field as Annabel Blanchard and Katie Stengel make their exit. 

As we thought it was over, Catarina Macario got her first goal of the season in the 95th minute. 

The substitute made an impact from the moment she stepped onto the pitch.  

Full-Time Analysis: 

During this matchup, Crystal Palace had many hopeful chances. 

 However, none of these chances paid off as Chelsea looked dangerous when attacking through the whole 90 minutes. 

This game was a harsh lesson for Crystal Palace to take after conceding 11 goals in their first two WSL games.  

Crystal Palace are still yet to score their first goal of the campaign. 

Who do both teams face for Match day Three? 

Chelsea was set to play Manchester United, however this has been postponed due to player welfare issues.  

Crystal Palace take on Leicester City at the King Power Stadium on Sunday 6th October at 15:00pm. 

This game will be streamed on Barclay’s Women’s Super League Youtube Channel. 

Featured image courtesy of ajay_suresh via Flickr. No changes have been made.