The Blues return from international duty having recorded back-to-back victories before the break, overcoming Manchester City and West Ham United on home soil, which lifted us to fourth place in the league table.

As the focus shifts swiftly back to domestic duties, the players returned to Cobham but there was one notable absentee, Hayes, who is recovering from emergency surgery. In the interim, Green and assistant coach Denise Reddy will take charge of the team for our upcoming fixtures.

Green provided an update on Hayes’ welfare and explained the work that has been going on during the international break to get the players ready for the coming weeks:

‘I’ve spoken to her quite a few times, as you can imagine, in the last week. She’s making good progress, she’s back at home now and we hope that progress will continue on a daily basis. Of course, we wish her a speedy recovery along with everybody else at the club.

‘We’ve been looking to get organised behind the scenes. Denise is very experienced, she’s been a head coach in her own right in America and Sweden. We’ve got Tanya on our staff who has also been a head coach, and then Stuart and I who have worked alongside Emma for nearly 10 years now and have been in this situation back in 2018, when Emma was pregnant.

‘It’s not a new situation. I’ve got full confidence in the staff and the players that we’ll deal with this situation and get the results needed to make sure that when Emma comes back into work, we’re in a good position on all fronts.

‘We were aware of it just before the international break, so that gave us the opportunity to get set up and of course, Emma’s health is the most important thing beyond football. It was a good window for her to be able to get in and have the surgery and for us to get organised behind the scenes.’

Despite taking a step back from the touchline, Green explained that Hayes is likely to be involved in some capacity and was full of admiration for the manager, while stating the players and staff will do everything they can to maintain the standards in her absence.

‘Emma will definitely still be involved. You know what sort of character she is. She’ll be at home watching all the training online, she’ll be linked into the bench on matchdays as long as she is well enough to do that. She’ll be heavily involved and I’m sure it’ll be difficult for her to watch the games from home. Hopefully, we can play well in those games and get the results needed.

‘Emma is very open and honest, a real inspiration for everybody out there. This is just another example of her being very open and getting women’s issues out there for everyone to talk about, which perhaps isn’t the case on a daily basis. It wasn’t a surprise to me when she decided that she wanted to put the statement out and be completely transparent with her own situation.

‘We’re all looking forward to it. Denise and I will make sure the team are ready for the game. We’ve got full respect for Everton, we know they’re a very good team and under a new manager, who Denise and I know quite well actually. We’re looking forward to the challenge and everybody will be doing all they can to get the three points on Sunday.’

A familiar face will greet the Chelsea coaching staff in the dugout on Sunday, with new Everton boss Brian Sorensen already well known to the Blues coaching team and Green was quick to praise the impact the Dane is having on his new club.

‘Brian has done a really good job of evolving the squad and making some changes from last season. I think you can see that in the way they’ve started. They’ve been very impressive and we know we’ve got a target on our back being the champions of England going up there this weekend. I think he’s done a great job in a short timeframe and I’m sure he’ll go on and be a success at Everton.’

Following the players' return from international duty, Green named two absentees for this weekend’s trip to Everton, but was otherwise pleased to report a clean bill of health.

‘Everybody is fit, we’ve got one slight niggle with Jelena Cankovic. This game might come a little too soon for her. Melanie (Leupolz) has just given birth, but apart from those two then everybody else is fit and available for selection.’