Chelsea secured a commanding win against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park, maintaining their perfect start to the Women’s Super League season.
The Blues opened the scoring through Aggie Beever-Jones, who finished off a swift counter-attack after a promising Palace move fizzled out.
The defending WSL champions then extended their lead when new signing Lucy Bronze made it 2-0 shortly after half-time, before Lauren James, Nathalie Bjorn, Catarina Macario and a brace from Guro Reiten added to their tally.
Laura Kaminski’s newly-promoted Palace side showed flashes of potential despite the heavy loss in their first home WSL match, with Annabel Blanchard, Indiah-Paige Riley and Katie Stengel coming close to scoring.
Although they defended well for long stretches of the first half, Chelsea still carved out chances and it was inevitable that they would eventually display their ruthlessness in front of goal.
England star James was a constant menace, while Johanna Rytting Kaneryd continued her brilliant start to the season with another assist and dominant performance on Chelsea’s right flank.
Full-back Bronze was rewarded for her attacking endeavours with her first goal since joining from Barcelona, already proving to be a shrewd addition by new manager Sonia Bompastor.
This was another tough lesson for Palace, who are yet to find the net in the WSL and have shipped 11 goals in their opening two matches.
This was a big night for Palace as more than 5,000 fans travelled to Selhurst Park to watch their first home match in the WSL and dreaming of a major upset.
Chairman Steve Parish was among those in attendance and there were flags draped across one section of the Holmesdale Road stand welcoming the players as they walked out of the tunnel.
Palace knew they were in for a battle immediately when James, brought back into the starting XI by manager Bompastor, had an early shot blocked inside the area.
The hosts had chances, though. Had they taken them, it might have been a different story.
Mille Gejl and Lily Woodham, making her first start for Palace, were involved in some bright attacks down the left-hand side, while Blanchard and Stengel were a threat through the middle.
But the hunt for a goal reward came with a heavy risk and Palace learned the hard way when a run in behind by Stengel almost caught out Chelsea’s defence before the visitors recovered, won the ball back and broke quickly through Kaneryd.
The Sweden international teed up Beever-Jones, who completed a devastating counter-attack to put Chelsea ahead in the 38th minute.
Still only 1-0 down, Palace came out full of hope in the second half but it turned into a nightmare as the Blues racked up six goals after the restart.
Bronze fired in a second within three minutes and that opened the floodgates in an unforgiving final 45 minutes for the hosts.
James poked in from close range for a deserved third, before Reiten twice, Macario and Bjorn capitalised on a tired Palace defence as Chelsea’s quality shone through in abundance.
They were tested at home by Aston Villa in their opening-game 1-0 win last weekend, but this was a display which carried more swagger and ruthlessness – two traits they will need to retain their crown this season.
