Leicester City 0 Crystal Palace 2: Home truths as the Eagles land historic firsts
Crystal Palace are the latest promoted team to try their luck at avoiding relegation from the WSL at the first attempt. Bristol City failed to bridge that gap last season, although the previous two years saw the newly-promoted sides stay up. In 2023, it was Liverpool. In 2022, it was Leicester City.
Palace’s start to top flight life has been a tough one, losing 4-0 at Tottenham on the opening day before getting smashed 7-0 at home by Chelsea next up.
The Eagles brought two former Foxes with them, the versatile Josie Green starting at right-back having left Leicester in the summer and Annabel Blanchard returning three years after her departure to Blackburn. The latter would have a day to remember.
Amandine Miquel made a change to the side that lost narrowly to Arsenal, with Saori Takarada coming in for her compatriot Yuka Momiki in a strangely defensive move.
Losing the battle
An early burst from Palace left winger Ashleigh Weerden showcased her pace down the left but CJ Bott did a fine job of keeping her quiet.
In the 6th minute, Leicester had the first golden opportunity to open the scoring. Noémie Mouchon countered down the left and had both Sam Tierney and Jutta Rantala as options in the middle. The ball went to Rantala who was closed down by Palace keeper Shae Yanez and the Finn put her shot wide under pressure.
Palace’s first real chance came eight minutes later when Ruby Mace lost the ball in midfield and the Eagles’ American striker Katie Stengel shot wide from distance.
This helped to spark Palace, who were having much the better of the game and created a couple of half chances. Leicester, meanwhile, were really struggling to impose themselves in midfield despite the addition of Takarada to the central area.
There was almost an embarrassing moment for Janina Leitzig on the half hour mark when her clearance was charged down by Stengel but the ball looped up and spun away from goal to the German’s relief.
It was no better further forward as Leicester gave the ball away constantly, clearly trying to force passes in an attempt to play direct.
Even against weaker opposition, Leicester often look most dangerous out of possession when pressing aggressively. There’s a recurring lack of technical quality in midfield and pace in attacking areas. The disappointment here was that Miquel didn’t start either Shana Chossenotte or Deanne Rose to try to stretch the Palace full-backs.
The home side ended the half strongly though. First Mouchon headed wastefully wide from an excellent Rantala free kick. Then Rantala herself shot from 25 yards but it was always drifting wide of the far post. From Yanez’s poor goal kick, Mouchon played Rantala in but the shot was again off target when well placed.
Miquel was decisive at half time, making the positive decision to bring Chossenotte on for Takarada with Rantala moving centrally.
There was a further jolt at half time with the news that Everton had escaped from the Emirates with a goalless draw despite giving up 21 shots to Arsenal.
The Eagles soar
The exciting young winger Chossenotte had an immediate impact in the 49th minute, playing Rantala in with an excellent through ball but Yanez saved with her feet.
As with the first half though, Palace survived the early scare and then took control. Five minutes later, Stengel shot straight at Leitzig who turned it over the bar. From the resulting short corner, the ball was worked to Aimee Everett who blasted over from six yards.
It took just a minute for Palace to make amends, with former Leicester midfielder Blanchard exchanging passes with Stengel before blasting into the corner past Leitzig’s despairing dive. It was an impressive way for Palace to score their first ever WSL goal and a huge wake-up call for a below-par Leicester side, with Miquel immediately bringing on Momiki for Missy Goodwin.
Soon after, Palace had two WSL goals and so did Annabel Blanchard. This time it was from the penalty spot after Mace mistimed her challenge in the box.
Rose was finally introduced for Mace with 20 minutes left, and Leicester set about getting back into the game. Instead, it fizzled out as the Foxes struggled to find any kind of fluency going forward.
In truth, at no stage did Palace look like a newly-promoted team that had shipped eleven goals in their first two games. On this showing, as Leicester were leapfrogged by their opponents, the perennial search for a team to occupy bottom spot may have to look elsewhere.
Of course, ambitions were far loftier in the summer and that seemed fair after two good performances to begin the season. The top half looked a long way off this afternoon though.
At times, bold and difficult changes will have to be made. Certain long-serving players don’t look to merit their places by default any more. Amandine Miquel must now prove she is capable of taking those tough decisions and turning a promising side into one that wins games like this.
Leicester's record against Bournemouth, coupled with recent form, didn't leave many feeling confident pre match. The odds of a stalemate were high, so be honest, who had a tight 1-0 and a clean sheet on this week's bingo card?