The Blues are on the road for the first time this season as we make the short trip to south London on Friday evening to face Women’s Super League newcomers Crystal Palace.
Following a hard-fought victory over Aston Villa on the opening day of the campaign, Sonia Bompastor’s Blues will be looking to make it two wins on the bounce when we visit the Eagles.
It is a clash between the seven-time champions and the newest arrival to the WSL – and will be the first time the two sides have met in England’s top-flight.
When and where?
We face Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Friday 27 September, with kick-off scheduled for 7.30pm (UK time).
How to follow
You can follow via the match centre on the official Chelsea website and official Chelsea app, and through Chelsea Women’s social media channels with match commentary posted on X and regular updates available on Facebook and Instagram.
For those in the UK, the game can be watched live on Sky Sports.
The form
The Bompastor era started with a maiden WSL win for our head coach as we beat Aston Villa 1-0 at Kingsmeadow.
That victory followed back-to-back successes – against NJ/NY Gotham and Arsenal – during our USA tour and a 9-0 home thrashing of Dutch side Feyenoord.
A win on the opening day of the WSL season means the Blues are now unbeaten in their last four league matches – a run which stretches back to our final three games of last season – ahead of our trip to Selhurst Park.
Crystal Palace started their debut WSL season with a 4-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur at Brisbane Road. That was their first league defeat since mid-March, having finished their title and promotion-winning season in the Championship unbeaten in five games.
Recent head-to-head
Although this will be the first time the Blues have faced the Eagles in the WSL, the two sides met in February in an FA Cup clash at Kingsmeadow.
A sublime back-heeled finish late in the game saw Mayra Ramirez score her first Chelsea goal and secure a 1-0 win in the fifth round as we would go on to reach the semi-finals of the competition.
Prior to that clash and since the restructure of women’s football in 2011, Chelsea have only faced Crystal Palace twice.
The first meeting came in September 2018 in the group stages of the League Cup. A 4-0 win away from home was recorded, and just over a year later, we beat the same opposition 3-0 in the group stage of the same competition.
Before the era we now know, there was a final showdown back in 2006 as Chelsea beat our fellow London club 1-0 to lift the Surrey Cup.