Chelsea Women suffered our first defeat of the season in all competitions on Sunday afternoon, going down 4-1 away at Arsenal in the Women’s Super League.

However, we have the chance to bounce straight back when we return to European action in the Champions League group stage, by hosting BK Hacken at Stamford Bridge on Thursday evening. According to Sam Kerr, it is an opportunity which can’t come soon enough.

‘I think we don’t lose a lot here at Chelsea, so whenever we do there’s always a motivation to want to bounce back,’ said Kerr. ‘It was difficult at the weekend and I’m really glad that we have a game on Thursday. I wish the game was today so we had an opportunity to get one back even sooner after the weekend.

‘We always know that we have to bounce back and I think that’s the beauty of being at Chelsea, there is a game every few days so you don’t have long to sit on things, win or lose.'

Given the large number of experienced leaders within the Blues squad, Sam has no doubts the team are up to the mental challenge of getting over that defeat, despite the continued absence of captain Millie Bright due to injury.

‘Everyone in the team, no-one needs motivating after the weekend to bounce back. We’re all top professionals. We have something crazy like six or seven national team captains in the squad. So it’s not up to one individual, it’s not up to Emma [Hayes], it’s up to ourselves as a collective and a team.

‘We know that we have to bounce back. We’re Chelsea, we’ve been here before and we will bounce back. Although it did hurt, we’re not going to let one loss derail us or get us down for too long. We have a run of games in the next 10 days or so that are all super important.’

The striker also responded to a video widely shared since the weekend, showing her responding to the chants of Arsenal supporters who spotted her travelling home from the Emirates Stadium by cheekily raising four fingers, to remind them of the number of consecutive WSL titles we have now lifted.

She confirmed it was all good-natured fun and, as a football fan first and foremost herself, believes those kind of rivalries are what makes the sport so enjoyable.

‘I think it’s good. It’s what the women’s game has missed for the last 20 years. I love now that there’s 60,000 people against us at the weekend. It’s amazing for the women’s game and anyone who knows me personally knows I do all these things on a daily basis.

'I love to have fun. You could see me smiling and of course I hated losing and I hated the performance on the weekend, but at the end of the day this is football.

‘I’d much rather get heckled by some Arsenal fans driving down the street than have no fans, so I think it’s good for the women’s game and you need that rivalry to grow the game.

‘There’s always a fun side to it. When it crosses the line it’s obviously not right, but good rivalries like that make the game more enjoyable. I’m a football fan too, I would be in the same position as them if I wasn’t playing football.’

Kerr finished by updating on her own fitness, having been playing catch-up during the opening stages of the season after missing pre-season with the injury which limited her involvement for Australia at the summer’s World Cup.

‘I’m feeling much better every week,’ she added. ‘I’m still working, I’m still trying hard. It’s been different but I’m enjoying it. I feel like I’m getting close to my best now and hopefully the performances will follow.

‘I’ve been scoring, I’ve been helping the team. It’s been different, usually I have a pre-season or a tournament under my belt but I didn’t have that this season. So it was a different start to the year for me.

‘But I’m enjoying it, we’re still top of the league, we’re second in the Champions League group with the opportunity to go top, so it’s not all doom and gloom. I’m excited and ready to go tomorrow.’