The Blues returned to the top of the WSL table with a 3-0 win on Sunday afternoon with all the goals coming in the first half. Naturally it was that part of the game that pleased Hayes especially in what was her first game back on the touchline after a break for a medical matter.

‘For 45 minutes I saw the maturity and growth in our team in the way we circulate the ball, the rotations, the patterns, the movements, the chemistry, the symmetry - the things that come together with players who have been playing together for a long time,’ she listed.

‘We've got better at being comfortable about the ball, especially in mid-blocks. We did that well first half. In the second half Tottenham improved in what they were doing.’

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Hayes was also complementary about the contribution made either from the start or from the bench by some of the players who have played less often recently.

‘We all know that when you don’t get a lot of minutes there can be a drop off, but everybody's worked so hard in the background, particularly those that stay behind in the international break, and everybody contributed to the performance.

‘It was a stand-out performance from Jessie Fleming. She was exceptional. She stepped up today and her, Sophie [Ingle], Kadeisha [Buchanan] and Eve [Perisset] in particular deserve a lot of credit.’

Fleming came into the side in place of Pernille Harder with Perisset selected ahead of Niamh Charles. Ingle and Buchanan had retained their places, as had goalscorers Sam Kerr and Erin Cuthbert. Hayes talked about both of those players, and the wonder goal Cuthbert fired in from long range to make it 2-0.

‘I'm sure I won't stop hearing about it from her!’ she said, ‘and rightly so as it was an outstanding strike, from an outstanding player. With her commitment to the club, I will for sure push her to the next level because there's areas in her play beyond the tenacity. Positionally she has to keep working on and she's open and willing all the time to keep growing, so I look forward to the next steps.

‘As we say in London, Sam is mustard, absolutely mustard as a player. Really world class as a centre-forward and as a human.

‘The things I watched at home from television are the things I saw her working on in the game today, and I'm most pleased to follow up on that because that's what the top and the best players have. It's not just enough to be the goalscorer, she was conscious that those things mattered to the game and to the team’s play and she did them. She was great.’