Catarina Macario scored twice when Chelsea clearly brought six points on the Women's Super League Summit with a routine 4-0 win over 10-player Crystal Palace.
Guro Reiten and Mia Fishel were also on goal at Kingsmeadow in front of Sonia Bompastor, who now need four points of their last three games to secure a seventh consecutive WSL title.
It was the perfect reaction of the hosts after their modest 4-1 defeat by Barcelona in the first stage of the semi-final draw on Sunday of the Champions League.
Bottom Side Palace, who had sent Skipper Allyson Swaby, came closer to an immediate return to the second layer, because they stay seven points on drift at the foot of the table.
Reiten broke the impasse of the penalty place in the 22nd minute after Molly-Mae Sharpe handed her cross, while Macario bore in a second goal only two minutes later.
It got worse for Palace within two minutes after the restart, with Swaby showing a straight red card for downing Sjoeke Nusken just outside the box.
Macario took her second goal from the resulting free kick, with her shot bends from Lily Woodham and in the opposite corner of the net.
Replace Visel, who had struck the woodwork for minutes earlier and put the icing on the cake just after the hour and helped the ball in just after Lucy Bronze won the first header from a corner.
The big fish hooks the ball in@chelseafcw #barclaysssl pic.twitter.com/T20U2TPR1U
– Barclays Women's Super League (@Barclayssl) April 23, 2025
Data Debrief: Bright brings out 200 when Reiten corresponds to Mariona
It was a memorable day for Chelsea skipper Millie Bright, who made her 200th performance in the WSL.
The defender of England is only the second player to reach that brand, after Jordan Nobbs (207).
Reiten got the ball rolling for Chelsea with a Joint-League-high third successful penalty in the WSL this season (level with Mariona Caldentey).
In the meantime, Fishel completed the route with its first competition goal since the nets against Tottenham in October 2023.
In the meantime, Palace was unable to try a single shot in a WSL match for the first time (since at least the 2011-12 season).