The 25-year-old defender made her return from a shoulder injury, which had kept her sidelined for three months, in December. She has now made eight appearances across all competitions and will be hoping to make that nine when we travel to face Aston Villa in the Women's Super League this afternoon.

With a run of games now under her belt, Charles believes she is edging closer and closer to the level the England international knows she is capable of.

'I don't think I'll ever be satisfied,' Charles said. 'I think that's part of the mentality of all the players here at Chelsea that there is still always loads and loads to improve on.

'I do feel more back to where I was in terms of football sharpness. I completely underestimated how hard that was going to be to get back. It was definitely a learning experience for me.

'But, I've seen glimpses of feeling more like myself over the last few games and that is motivating me to keep going.'

Our last WSL match saw the Blues defeat London rivals Arsenal at Stamford Bridge. It was a match in which Charles impressed, especially whilst linking up with winger Sandy Baltimore down the left flank.

And having missed a bulk of the start of the season, continuing to build those strong relationships on the pitch is something Charles is raring to do.

'That's something I've really enjoyed,' the defender said. 'During the first half of the season, I got to know the players off the pitch, but now it's trying to get up to speed with that process on the pitch.

'It's about building that relationship quickly because it definitely makes a difference in any of the games and at any opportunity. I've been trying to focus on my football, but also making up for lost time with those relationships.'

'When you play with top-class players like Sandy, fortunately, it's very easy to create a relationship with them because they are so good,' Charles continued. 'It's a credit to how good she is.'

The Blues travel to Villa Park to face the side who they beat on the opening day of the WSL season back in September. It proved to be a hard-fought win at Kingsmeadow and one that kicked off a 12-game unbeaten run in the league that could be extended to 13 on Sunday.

'It probably speaks to how well we have done off the back of that,' Charles said. 'It was the first game of the season and notoriously we've not done very well in that opening game.

'We probably looked at it as let's take the win because we know we're very good at building on things. It couldn't have gone much better since. We've put ourselves in a really good position now.

'But, the mindset is definitely not looking too far ahead. We know you can slip up in every game so we have to make sure we play to the standard that we know we can.

'We're playing at their home ground and they're a good team. They've probably not had the season they wanted to this far, but it also means there is a team that they will come good and we have to make sure it's not against us.'

Sonia Bompastor's side will go into the game sitting at the top of the table with 34 points, whilst our opponents sit ninth with 10 points. But, Charles is expecting a challenging encounter even more so as the Villans will have new manager Natalia Arroyo at the helm for the first time.

'It can be difficult to know what to expect, but it makes it exciting because we have to make sure we're on our toes,' Charles said. 'We have to bring our best so we are ready for whatever they bring and we can adapt.

'It does keep you sharp and not just going through the motions, so we're all looking forward to it.'