This has been so easy for Chelsea so far. They're all over West Ham and having so much freedom, playing through the hosts and constantly getting in behind.

One-way traffic.

It should be 2-0.

Aggie Beever-Jones races down the right and cuts the ball back to Catarina Macario.

She's just netted an incredible finish. She slices this opportunity over the bar from seven yards or so.

Arsenal goalkeeper Daphne van Domselaar is called into action for the first time in the second half, plucking a cross out of the air.

Her goal-kick unleashes Alessia Russo but nothing comes of the move.

That could have gone anywhere!

Arsenal surge forward once again and the ball ricochets around Palace's six-yard box before being scrambled clear.

You sense a second goal can't be far away.

Ooooh. Millie Bright flicks a corner towards the middle of the box, but Sjoeke Nusken can't quite control the ball in time and the Irons manage to recover before she can put it away.

Arsenal have once again come out of the blocks firing, dominating possession in these early exchanges and getting forward down the left with Katie McCabe. Her cross is well snuffed out by Palace's defenders.

Chance! The ball comes out to Aggie Beever-Jones as West Ham fail to properly clear at the back. Her effort strikes a defender and swerves towards the corner, forcing Kinga Szemik to palm it behind for a corner.

Nothing of note comes from the set piece.

Good start from the visitors, attacking with numbers. Caterina Macario, Mayra Ramirez and Sandy Baltimore are already proving a real handful with their moves down the wings.

And we're off.

The players are back out at Meadow Park and we're about to get under way.

Arsenal lead 1-0 but Crystal Palace grew into the first half and showed good defensive shape to keep themselves well and truly in this WSL clash.

West Ham get the ball rolling.

The teams are out for this one! Who's going to come out on top? Hit the thumb's up for West Ham, or the thumb's down for Chelsea.

Chelsea

Chelsea have been boosted by the return of winger Johanna Rytting-Kaneryd, who resumed full training this week and has been named on the bench against West Ham.

There is less positive news about midfielder Wieke Kaptein, who manager Sonia Bompastor confirmed missed training and will not be in the squad.

"She's getting back to practice but isn't ready for the game. She'll probably be in the squad for Wednesday," added Bompastor.

Chelsea sit top of the Women's Super League table by six points but Bompastor is staying grounded.

"We're taking it game by game. If we can maintain the gap, great. But our focus is on the next match," she added.

Jen Beattie
Former Scotland defender on Women's Football Weekly

Their goal difference might be much better than Crystal Palace and that's the one saving grace. That's a little bit of safety, but I think at the start of the season, you can have high expectations and go out and try to beat everyone and I still think there's an element of that, but you have to now start to look at not wanting to be in a relegation battle come March, April.

Looking to those kind of games, West Ham have to pick up more points and that's pretty obvious.

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Tottenham Hotspur

Tottenham's Robert Vilahamn, speaking to BBC Sport: "They switched to a press and then we actually struggled to make the decisions. If we look at where should we have high risk and where should we not we can then dictate the game a bit more."

On balancing different competitions: "We try to go for everything we have here and we try to balance the squad. The subs today was mainly loading on the players to make sure I can use players on Wednesday and Sunday again so I'm trying to us the squad because we have a lot of good player in it and different characters in it. We need to stay in the game and now we go for West Ham."

Tottenham Hotspur

Tottenham's Robert Vilahamn, speaking to BBC Sport: "We knew it was going to be a tough game because we had a friendly postponed and FA Cup postponed so this was the first time we've played in five weeks. The rhythm, the relationships, we didn't really know how we were looking but then scoring after 3 minutes was quite nice but then we didn't really play so well today to be honest.

"We haven't been able to train the way we wanted to because part of the pitch was frozen and our players are people they need to get to know each other to be able to get the rhythm and everything but we needed the win today to make sure we didn't get to close to the teams below us and make sure we get to look forward.

"I'm really happy that we had the character to win this game."

Leicester City

Leicester's Julie Thibaud, speaking to BBC Sport: "It's a tough result today for us. We should have scored. We had some chances, unfortunately we didn't put the ball in the back of the net. The result is hard today.

"We have a lot of injuries so it's hard to score because our strikers are injured but it's part of the game, we need to manage that. Today we didn't but we are working every day for that.

On being a late change to the starting XI: "It was hard for me, the first time in my career. I was just warming up with the subs and today I was happy because I was ready to go and fight for the team, I hope the next game will be better for us."

On what was missing for Leicester: "think the last passes, the last shot needs to be more accurate. Hopefully we will keep working on it and score. In terms of defence I think we are there so we just need to improve what we missed in the game."

Chelsea are in pole position in the Women's Super League going into 2025 and it would take a significant fightback from either Manchester City or Arsenal to knock them off the top spot.

They are already six points clear in first place and are the only team who are still undefeated.

West Ham have never beaten the Blues in the league, with Chelsea winning each of their last ten meetings. Will Sonia Bompastor's side carry on their fine form today, or could we have a shock on the cards?

Renee Slegers' Arsenal are ahead at the break courtesy of a poacher's finish from Leah Williamson in the sixth minute.

Alessia Russo and Frida Maanum have also gone close for the hosts, who dominated the first half with 75% possession, but Crystal Palace have limited the damage.