A Pernille Harder penalty in the 70th-minute wrapped up all three points for Emma Hayes’s side, who remain in the driving seat to win a third consecutive WSL title.

On a wet night in the Midlands, Hayes reflected on her side’s performance, saying: ‘I thought the first half it was nervy, we were stressed in our performance and I thought when the first goal didn’t come, you get a couple of offside calls.

‘I’ll say it again, it just keeps happening, Sam Kerr is onside more often than not and they blow for offside because they are not conscious of how amazing her movement is. I think we’ll have to do better with that because we have to work hard for space.’

Despite hitting the crossbar and coming close in the first half, the Blues struggled to create many other chances of note in the opening 45 minutes.

‘I think at the half, we missed Erin because it got a bit transitional. I took Beth out because I felt like it wasn’t a game for centre forwards, their back three dropped low, so I took one of them out to try and open the pitch up a little bit.

‘I thought that worked but it got even better when Jonna [Andersson] came in to the game and her one telling moment for the cross, for the penalty. Thank goodness to be honest with you, because I don’t think we should let it get to that point.

‘However, lets credit Birmingham, they were fighting for their lives, they fought for every ball and were a real credit to their club. They made it extremely difficult.’

Ann-Katrin Berger made a vital save deep into stoppage time, tipping a ferocious strike over the bar. The boss was full of praise for our goalkeeper at full-time, adding: ‘Well first of all, Ann Berger is a world class shot-stopper, that’s her strength. I knew that having her in goal, that is what she’s capable of.

‘It’s a big moment for her considering she was previously sent off, so I’m delighted for her. But I am for the players that come into the game. I was listening to something with Gary Neville earlier when he was talking about how many managers really trust their squad and I do, to put Lauren, to put Drew, to put Maren, to put Jonna and Erin into the game is because I value the work everyone puts in every day.

‘There’s no denying that having three games in a week, it’s been a tough slog and I felt it showed for parts of it, especially towards the end but let’s respect them, they are fighting for their lives and they were going to make it difficult no matter who the opponent was.’

The boss was also full of praise for Andersson, who put in the cross which resulted in the penalty after a Birmingham player handled in the area.

‘She’s playing with freedom,' added Hayes. 'I know she’s been an amazing player for this club and in a back four she’s far more comfortable than she is as a wing-back, but she’s been delivering telling crosses and she said she felt the space is there and we felt the space was there hence the reason we opened the pitch up.

‘It’s just a moment, when you’ve got three centre-backs and the teams dropping low, it’s really difficult to find space and it dropped for the second phases where there was space and that was it, it was a penalty and hallelujah we got the right decision as we haven’t in other points of the season.’

There is just one league game to go for the Blues who will host Manchester United at a sold out Kingsmeadow on Sunday 8 May, kicking off at 12 noon (UK time).