Crystal Palace 0-7 Chelsea: Lucy Bronze and Lauren James on target as Sonia Bompastor's side make perfect start to WSL

Match report and free match highlights as Chelsea turned on the style to score seven past Crystal Palace; Aggie Beever-Jones started the rout, while Lucy Bronze scored her first Blues goal with a long-range stunner; Guro Reiten was on target twice

By Laura Hunter

Saturday 28 September 2024 07:27, UK

Sonia Bompastor's Chelsea reign is off to the perfect start as an opening night victory over Aston Villa was consolidated by a statement 7-0 win over Women's Super League newcomers Crystal Palace.

Chelsea were not quite their fluent best first half, but found themselves ahead just before the break when Aggie Beever-Jones rounded off a swift break, initiated by Sjoeke Nusken, who located Johanna Rytting Kaneryd on the charge.

The pace of the counter was blistering and caught Palace - who had spent the majority of the half in relative comfort - completely exposed, as Beever-Jones swept the ball beyond Shae Yanez.

The visitors had rode their luck too, with chances falling the way of Katie Stengel and Annabel Blanchard, as well as Indiah-Paige Riley's opportunity to punish goalkeeper Hannah Hampton for some first-half sloppiness.

"I feel wiser," Bompastor reflected. "Coming to this league, I've spent a lot of time studying the teams, the managers and the way they play. I want a lot of information, the most possible. This league is so competitive and if you don't perform you drop points, so you have to prepare properly."

The champions stepped on the gas after the interval, though, and scored a bucket load of wonderfully crafted goals to prove their obvious superiority over Palace - hosting their first ever top-flight game.

Lucy Bronze arrowed a stunning strike into the top left, before Beever-Jones linked with substitute Mayra Ramirez to present Lauren James with a simple tap in. Guro Reiten slammed home a fourth, while Nathalie Bjorn scored from a particularly poorly defended corner. Palace's initial resistance had all but collapsed.

Open play, set-pieces, from the left or from the right, Chelsea were relentless from every angle.

The helpless home side thought the humbling was complete when Sandy Baltimore, on as a late substitute, shimmied inside the box to tee up Reiten for a sixth, but there was still time for Catarina Macario to notch a lucky seventh in stoppage time.

Speaking about the performance of Beever-Jones, who has scored six goals in seven WSL starts, Sky Sports pundit Izzy Christiansen said: "The way she has progressed is unbelievable. There were so many parts of her game that needed to be refined, but wow, the sky is the limit. The talent in this Chelsea side is incredible."

Reiten inspired by positional change

Chelsea forward Guro Reiten:

"I was angry at myself after the last game because I should have had a couple of goals.

"It was frustrating in the first half, they defended really well. We had to move the ball better, and quicker, but seven goals!

"I have only played left wing here, so the No 10 role is a bit different. If I get time, I get better in a position, and you can see that from game to game. Whatever Sonia wants me to do, I'll do it."

Bompastor asks Chelsea to play with 'more confidence'

Chelsea manager Sonia Bompastor:

"I made some adjustments at half-time, especially defensively and when we have the ball. We have to be more confident with it.

"It's making sure you score the first goal, then it's easy to break up the game.

"We created some chances, we could have scored more in the first half. Palace were compact and were in a good way, aggressive on the ball.

"We missed some technical skills to keep more of the ball, we were forcing the game instead of being more patient. If you don't score, it gives more confidence to the opponent and makes it harder.

"We are an ambitious squad, we want to win every single title. We want to win every single game."

Kaminski: It's been an eye opener

Crystal Palace manager Laura Kaminski:

"Very difficult. We came in at 1-0 down, a chance to come in at 1-1 when we looked positive in the first 45 minutes.

"Then our heads dropped a little bit and we lost momentum at that point. We started to sink a bit which invited a lot of shots, which is hard against a top-class side.

"We gave too many shots away and then against a good side like that, you're going to get punished. The second half has not been kind to us. It's been an eye opener to this league."