The Blues now require just four points from their remaining three matches to clinch a sixth successive league title.
Crystal Palace, who sit seven points from safety, will be relegated on Sunday if they lose to West Ham.
Oriane Jean-Francois, Sjoeke Nusken, and Guro Reiten all came close for hosts Chelsea, who led from the start but couldn't score until the 22nd minute. Despite goalkeeper Shae Yanez's two hands on the ball and Molly-Mae Sharpe's handball, she was unable to prevent Reiten's penalty kick. After being picked out unmarked in the box by Sandy Baltimore, Catarina Macario calmly guided a right-footed strike into the bottom corner to double Chelsea's lead less than two minutes later. After captain Allyson Swaby was shown the yellow card in the 47th minute for bringing down Nusken, who was through on goal, Crystal Palace had to play with ten players for the majority of the second half. Macario scored from the resulting free-kick, with a huge deflection off Palace defender Lily Woodham wrong-footing Yanez, before Mia Fishel added Chelsea's fourth, touching Lucy Bronze's header in from close range.
"This was a crucial game in terms of points on the run to the title. It was a crucial win," manager Sonia Bompastor told BBC Sport.
"The second half was not good enough in terms of the high standards we've set," although "the result is really good." Chelsea are not used to losing, doing so only twice in all competitions this season.
Wednesday's meeting with Crystal Palace, therefore, had an air of unfamiliarity about it. On Sunday, Chelsea lost 4-1 in Barcelona, including conceding two goals in the final 10 minutes, to put a severe dent in their hopes of reaching the Women's Champions League final.
Bompastor called on her players to "show a reaction and bounce back". She also made seven additions to her starting XI, not only to rest players before the second leg on Sunday but also to see who would like to start. And Chelsea did come back, never leaving cruise control as they cruised to their 16th victory of the season in the WSL. They scored four or more league goals for the sixth time this season, pinning Palace inside their own half for most of the first 20 minutes, dominating possession (70 percent). With two goals and five shots, Macario was the standout performer. Reiten was also busy, and Baltimore and Ashley Lawrence worked well together on the right, making their first appearance on the wing after many years playing defense. However, despite the fact that Barcelona and Crystal Palace share a love of the red-and-blue color scheme, these are the only similarities between the two teams. Crystal Palace did not test Chelsea defensively, failing to register a single shot on target and having just four touches in Chelsea's box.
despite the fact that the score was 4-0, Chelsea failed to score on goal. Only seven of their 29 shots were on target, they lacked quality in the final third, particularly late in the game as Bompastor brought on fresh legs, and lacked a ruthlessness despite their player advantage for 43 minutes.
Additionally, Bompastor's direct criticism of "the really good teams hurt the opposition when they have the opportunity" at the conclusion of the game speaks volumes. We scored only four goals in a game that could have ended with six or seven goals. It is not sufficient. "You need to think that way if you want to be one of the best teams in Europe or this league. You must take advantage of opportunities to score goals. We must improve our mentality." The win will give Chelsea confidence - but Barcelona will be a very different challenge.
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