Beth Mead’s double inspires Arsenal to emphatic WSL win at Crystal Palace | OneFootball

Arsenal cruised to their sixth successive league win against the relegation-battling Crystal Palace with a controlled victory in the Women’s Super League.

Beth Mead scored a superb double while a first-half finish from Alessia Russo and an own goal from Allyson Swaby completed a dominant afternoon for Renée Slegers’s side.

Slegers was full of praise for the mature nature of Arsenal’s display after their comeback victory against Real Madrid in midweek.

“It was a very professional performance at the end of a big block [of games] and with a big performance last Wednesday,” she said. “I am very impressed with how the staff and players worked to get ready for this game … coming from the high of going to the semi-finals of the Champions League and then celebrating that – just the euphoria that you feel. But then the next three days have been about preparing for this match and the team have been very professional.”

From the outset this game was a huge ask for Crystal Palace, who continue to prop up the WSL table. Leif Smerud, the manager, seemed to relish their role as underdogs but, having paid a visit to the Emirates Stadium, the Norwegian will have been aware of the challenges ahead.

With this result, Arsenal returned to second in the league with their attacking flair and after Chelsea’s draw against West Ham, the gap at the top was cut down to six points. Before kick-off, Arsenal had scored 25 goals in 2025, seven more than any other side in the division. Their manager opted for three changes from Wednesday. Mead and Lia Wälti returned, and the USA international Jenna Nighswonger received her first league start with Katie McCabe missing through suspension.

Smerud also made three changes, opting for experience as he tried to shore up the Eagles’ defensive capabilities. Chloe Arthur returned to the heart of midfield, Molly-Mae Sharpe took up her usual role up front while Hayley Nolan came into the backline.

Spring was in the air in Sutton with a crowd of 2,885 present. The visitors dominated in front of their buoyant travelling contingent. The away end was a constant cacophony of noise and sea of colour as they worked their way through the songbook twirling their red and white scarves in the air.

With the midweek cobwebs shaken off, Arsenal began to control the ball as they worked to find the spaces through a compact and diligent Palace midfield. In the past, Arsenal have struggled to break down such an opposition but an early goal was the antidote for any potential heightened nerves.

The breakthrough came in the 14th minute, starting in a sweeping move with Chloe Kelly breaking at pace. Beating Swaby, she cut the ball back with an expert delivery to find the run of Mead in the box: the England international opened her body to strike the ball with her left foot, her sublime volley marking her 50th league goal in an Arsenal shirt.

The hosts had several opportunities on the transition after the opener – Ashleigh Weerden saw an effort deflected and Katie Stengel sent a curling shot over the bar – but they struggled to really trouble Daphne van Domselaar.

The intensity of the visitors’ press continued and led to their second goal. Mariona Caldentey has been a revelation as a deep midfielder in recent matches and her energy forced an error by My Cato. The ball ran into the path of Russo and the striker sent a shot home for her 11th of the season.

The second half continued in much the same vein. Palace defended valiantly at times but did little to affect the outcome as Arsenal remained in command. The visitors added a third after a driving run from Kelly led to Swaby diverting the ball unwittingly into her own net before a trademark cross/shot from Mead rounded off the afternoon in injury time.

Arsenal celebrated joyously with their fans after another impressive week in which they won three, scored 11 and conceded none.

For Palace, however, there is work to do and Aston Villa’s defeat of Liverpool leaves the club four points adrift with a mountain to climb. While Bob Marley singing “everything’s gonna be alright” reverberated around the stadium trying to inject some optimism, Smerud remained level-headed. “We’ll have to keep believing which is really important,” he said. “And we have to keep developing, which is even more important. We can control some things but not others. Of course, we’re going to need to do our bit. We tried today and couldn’t but we have a few more chances.”

Header image: [Photograph: Paul Childs/Action Images/Reuters]