The Blues, who have won the FA Cup four times during Emma Hayes’s decade of service, overcame Arsenal 2-0 at Kingsmeadow on Sunday afternoon and secured our passage into the quarter-finals of the competition.

Sophie Ingle curled home a beautiful left-footed strike to open the scoring with 20 minutes played, as the Blues entered the half-time interval with a slender advantage. Sam Kerr added a classy second on her 100th appearance for the club, with a delicate chip over Manuela Zinsberger to ensure we were in the hat for the quarter-final draw.

As ball number six, we were the first tie to be pulled out of the hat and we have been handed an away trip to fellow Women's Super League outfit Reading, who we last faced back in December at Kingsmeadow.

Fran Kirby added to a Jelena Cankovic brace to give the Blues a 3-0 lead at the break and while a quickfire double from the visitors in the second half made for a nervous finale, the Blues held out to secure three points which saw us finish 2022 at the top of the league table.

We are the current holders of the competition having defeated Manchester City in last season’s final at Wembley. Two goals from Kerr and an Erin Cuthbert stunner settled a thrilling 3-2 encounter seeing us get our hands on the famous trophy under the Wembley arch.

An official date and kick-off time for our quarter-final visit to Readingwill be announced in due course.