The Blues, who have won the FA Cup four times during Emma Hayes’ decade of service, overcame Reading 3-1 at the Select Car Leasing Stadium on Sunday afternoon and secured our passage into the last four of the competition.

Jess Carter and Maren Mjelde gave the Blues a two-goal cushion at the break, with Guro Reiten adding a third in the second half after a wonderful team move. Sanne Troelsgaard pulled one back for Reading with 20 minutes remaining, but we stood firm to earn our spot in the semi-final draw.

Sue Smith joined Sam Quek and Gethin Jones to oversee proceedings as the draw took place on BBC Morning Live earlier today (Tuesday). We were joined in the hat by fellow Women’s Super League outfits Aston Villa, Brighton & Hove Albion and Manchester United.

As ball number one, we were the second tie to be drawn and we have been handed an away trip to Aston Villa, who we will visit twice in the space of a fortnight in both the Women's Super League and FA Cup.

Our previous meeting with Aston Villa came in the WSL last October at Kingsmeadow. A brace from Lauren James was added to by Sam Kerr as we ran out 3-1 winners to extend our winning run at the time to seven matches in all competitions.

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.

The Vitality Women’s FA Cup semi-final ties are set to be played on Sunday 16 April. An official date and kick-off time plus ticket details for our fixture against Aston Villa will be announced in due course.