Women’s football: Palace defeated by Arsenal in WSL as London City Lionesses move top of Championship
Crystal Palace’s hopes of securing Women’s Super League safety are becoming ever more unrealistic as they suffered a 4-0 defeat to second-placed Arsenal on Sunday.
England striker Beth Mead scored her 50th and 51st top-flight goals for Arsenal as they cruised to victory at Gander Green Lane.
The Eagles failed to register a shot on target and are four points from relegation rivals Aston Villa, who beat Liverpool on Sunday to create distance between themselves and the bottom spot.
Leif Smerud’s side head to league leaders Chelsea after the international break and have four games remaining in their debut top-flight campaign.
Smerud said: “We played a really good team. I saw them against Real Madrid in the Champions League.
“We made it a game for a while, at least. The first goal was beautiful – we have to applaud that.
“The second one was too cheap. We can build on some of the out-of-possession work.
“We can train better and develop during the international break and then be ready for the last part of the season.
We have to learn from what we have done so far and have quality in our everyday work.”
Shekiera Martinez scored a late equaliser to rescue a 2-2 draw for West Ham as they became just the third team to take points off Chelsea this season.
Maika Hamano and Aggie Beaver-Jones put Chelsea 2-0 up inside 21 minutes but Martinez’s brace, the second of which came in the 91st minute, saw the west Londoners’ lead at the top of the table cut to six points.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Blues boss Sonia Bompastor said: “This block of fixtures has been crazy. Eight games in 28 days – we travelled a lot, we played four games in a row against Manchester City where the players left everything on the pitch.
“It is hard to have the energy but at Chelsea, we have enough depth and quality to finish this block of fixtures with a better result.
“We conceded too many situations defensively but when you look at the bigger picture, we are six points ahead of the second-placed team. Every team would wish to be in our position.”
Charlton remain unbeaten in the Championship since November after picking up a 4-3 win at Sunderland on Sunday.
Karen Hills’ side raced into a four-goal lead before half-time with Jodie Hutton and Ellie Brazil scoring braces.
The Addicks are third in the Championship and five points behind table-topping London City Lionesses, but they have played a game more than the leaders and second-placed Birmingham.
London City moved to the summit after a 2-1 win at Newcastle on Sunday.
Isobel Goodwin and Sofia Jakobsson scored for Jocelyn Precheur’s side as the Hayes Lane-based outfit moved ahead of Birmingham, who did not play last weekend.
Millwall Lionesses ended their 2024-25 away campaign with a 4-2 defeat at Saltdean United on Sunday.
Saltdean were 4-0 up by the 67th minute. Shannan Drewe and Ciara Watling scored for Ted Jones’ side in the second half.
PICTURE: ALAMY