The Blues returned to league action on Wednesday night, beating the Toffees 3-0, with Fran Kirby, Pernille Harder and Melanie Leupolz all scoring a goal apiece to keep us two points clear at the top of the table.

It has been an intense couple of weeks for Hayes’ Chelsea having qualified for the quarter-finals of the Champions League, as well as clinching the Continental Tyres League Cup with a thumping victory just days before this fixture. However, the Chelsea boss is pleased with the consistency shown from her players and highlighted the quality she has at her disposal.

‘My team really impressed me. To come up here after a tiring away trip and start the way we started the game and then maintain that was impressive.

‘I was disappointed we weren’t 3-0 up at half-time. Okay, we missed a penalty, those things happen, we hit the bar and we got a goal disallowed.

‘At half-time my team was completely unhappy with the things we could have done better and that’s fair enough because we weren’t clinical.

‘In the second half, Ann Berger showed her qualities making a big save in a big moment and then the rest was a matter of time.

‘We were creating chances so I didn’t feel we needed to change anything and you’ve seen with Pernille, Sam, Fran, the quality. We can talk all day about how to stop those three players but class is permanent.

‘Ji was unbelievable, Melly too, Erin did a job and Niamh Charles coming in at right-back, what a big pressure for Niamh. It was a top performance, a real top performance,’ Hayes continued.

Kirby took her tally to 18 goals and 13 assists in all competitions last night and Hayes spoke about the No.14s selflessness and decision making in front of the goal.

‘We can talk about the pass of the night being Pernille’s pass to Fran, however I would also argue Fran’s pass to Pernille inside the six-yard box was pretty good because that’s the measure of Fran.

‘Most would say why don’t you score that for yourself? But she just wants to guarantee the goal for the team. I have run out of words because she’s a top player, they all are.’

Hayes confirmed Maren Mjelde, who sustained an injury to her knee in our Continental League Cup final on Sunday, will be sidelined for the remainder of the season.

‘Everybody saw what we went through on Sunday, I’m trained to cope with moments like that but I was just so distraught inside because this is a special person. Forget the player, this is a special person to the team.

‘You saw how it affected us and we feared the worse so we’re all relieved and gutted at the same time.

‘She had her surgery today [Wednesday] so she’s doing well and she’ll be back for pre-season - I think the best case scenario considering what we thought it might have been.’

With our Champions League campaign continuing against the German giants Wolfsburg on Wednesday, the Chelsea manager identified what it takes for her side to get to the next level.

‘I want quality all of the time. What I liked about our performance was that we did it for 90 minutes.

‘To be the best you have to be extremely clinical. If we were at our best we would have been 4-0 up at half-time and that’s a fact.

‘We had the situations to create that and if we were the best team we would have won by a bigger margin with the number of chances we get.

‘Everybody who knows me knows I value defending and clean sheets too so if we were to win the game 3-1, I’d have been gutted.

‘It’s just making sure that you never think you’re good enough, I’ve been in this Champions League and it’s a whole 'nother level and we have to be a level above where we’ve been in the past to come even close to winning that tournament.’

Chelsea will travel to Budapest, Hungary, for the home leg of our Champions League quarter-final tie versus Wolfsburg on Wednesday. Due to Government restrictions on travellers entering the UK because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the match will be played at Szusza Ferenc Stadium on Wednesday 24 March, with kick-off at 4pm UK time (5pm CET). The second leg will also take place at the same venue a week later.