Malard double sends Chelsea top as Blues beat Palace 3-1

Chelsea 3-1 Crystal Palace: Malard hauls Blues level and top

Chelsea came from a goal down to beat Crystal Palace 3-1 and temporarily go top of the Women's Super League table on Sunday, ahead of the Manchester derby later in the day.

Molly Bartrip had put Palace into a 20th-minute lead, but a moment of individual quality from Melvine Malard hauled the Blues level as she picked out the top-right corner. Chelsea and Malard doubled their respective tallies in the 75th minute, with Sandy Baltimore coming off the bench to score a penalty on the stroke of full-time to seal the win.

Malard took her goal tally in the league to four, with only Victoria Pelova (five), Oceane Hurtre (six) and Khadija Shaw (seven) having netted more this season.

In the WSL era, Chelsea have now won each of their eight matches against Palace in all competitions by an aggregate score of 28-1, while they are unbeaten in each of their last 39 WSL games across September, October and November (W34 D5), since a 2-1 loss away to Liverpool in September 2022.