Palace Women 1-3 Chelsea Women: Malard brace and late Baltimore penalty sink brave hosts
Crystal Palace Women were ultimately overpowered by table-topping Chelsea Women at the VBS Community Stadium, despite taking a surprise lead and matching the visitors for effort throughout a tense opening period. Chelsea's class told in the end as they ran out 3-1 winners, with Melvine Malard scoring twice either side of a late Sandy Baltimore penalty to seal the points.
The home side made the perfect start when Molly Bartrip bundled in from close range on 20 minutes, turning in a Fuka Tsunoda cross from a corner to send the home fans into raptures and put Chelsea on the back foot. Palace held firm for the remainder of the first half, defending resolutely to take their slender lead into the break.
Chelsea responded after the restart, drawing level on 51 minutes through Malard, who curled a right-footed effort from outside the box into the top of the net after being set up by Katie McCabe. The France forward then turned provider into finisher again on 75 minutes, heading home from close range after Sandy Baltimore's assist to put the visitors ahead for the first time. Baltimore, who had come on as a half-time substitute, then wrapped up the scoring in the 90th minute by converting a penalty, sending the goalkeeper the wrong way to make it 3-1.
There was late drama around the hour mark and beyond as both sides picked up bookings. Annabel Blanchard was shown yellow for Palace in first-half stoppage time, with Chelsea's Wieke Kaptein and Katie McCabe also cautioned in the same passage of play. Lucy Bronze was booked for a bad foul in the second half, while Hayley Ladd picked up a yellow for the hosts as the game became increasingly stretched.
The statistics told the story of a match in which Chelsea dominated territory and chances without always finding a way through. The visitors enjoyed 69.7% of the possession and had 26 attempts on goal to Palace's five, with ten shots on target compared to two for the hosts. Palace's goalkeeper was called into action repeatedly, making five saves, while Chelsea also won 13 corners to Palace's two as they camped in and around the home box for long spells.
The result leaves Crystal Palace 11th in the Women's Super League table as they continue to search for consistency, their last five league games reading LDDLL. For Chelsea, the win extends an outstanding run of form, with their last five WSL games all victories: WWWWW, keeping them firmly in the hunt at the top end of the division. Palace's defiant start will offer some encouragement despite the eventual scoreline, while Chelsea's bench impact, Baltimore's double involvement in particular, underlined the strength in depth that has fuelled their unbeaten start to the campaign.
Written with the help of AI, using the match facts and the headlines from the publishers credited above. Each point links to the original report — tap the source name to read it in full.
