Women's Super League: Arsenal thump Crystal Palace as Chelsea also thrash West Ham

Arsenal romped to a confident 5-0 victory over struggling Crystal Palace to celebrate Renee Slegers' first game as permanent head coach.

Slegers' official appointment was announced on Friday following a highly successful interim period, where she oversaw 10 wins from 11 games in all competitions since Jonas Eidevall's departure.

And the momentum from that uptick continued in Arsenal's first outing of 2025, scoring five goals via four different scorers to compound Palace's problems at the foot of the table.

Leah Williamson opened the scoring with her first WSL goal for nearly two years, poking home from Katie McCabe's corner in the sixth minute.

It took just over an hour for the Gunners to convert their obvious dominance into anything more, but a quick-fire double from Alessia Russo and Beth Mead - scored four minutes apart - was enough to shatter what was left of Palace's fragile resistance.

Mariona Caldentey converted from the penalty spot and guided a rebound from Russo's effort off the post beyond Shae Yanez in second-half stoppage-time as the game ran away from Palace - they are winless in the WSL since early October.

Arsenal, meanwhile, keep momentum going under Slegers, and extend their impressive unbeaten run to 12 games in all competitions.

Anything Arsenal could do, Chelsea could match as they were 5-0 winners against West Ham, extending their lead further at the top of the WSL.

The Blues' first four goals were all of supreme quality, and it took just 11 minutes for Catarina Macario to open things up. She played a neat one-two with Aggie Beever-Jones before her first touch with the ball back curled into the top corner.

Ten minutes later, Erin Cuthbert doubled the lead. Nathalie Bjorn intercepted the ball in midfield, before slotting her team-mate through. Cuthbert then sent a rifling, diagonal effort past goalkeeper Kinga Szemik.

Beever-Jones added the third with a minute of normal time to play. It was a poor West Ham clearance that found her at the top of the area and she the curled the ball home via the left upright.

Seven minutes after the break, Sandy Baltimore made it four when the Hammers were caught playing out from the back again, as Chelsea worked the ball to the forward. She then took a stride before thundering a fine effort home.

And it was an unfortunate own goal from Amber Tysiak (84) that rounded off a fine Chelsea performance. She turned Cuthbert's cross into her own net as the Blues eased their way to taking all three points away from east London.

Elsewhere, a fourth-minute own goal by Janina Leitzig earned Tottenham a hard-fought 1-0 win over Leicester to move them up to sixth in the table.