Despite an early goal by Arsenal’s Danielle Van de Donk, the Blues earned a thrilling derby victory thanks to second-half goals from Bethany England and Maria Thorisdottir. We deservedly levelled the scoring after the break when England cleverly rolled her marker to slot home. Then, with five minutes left of play, substitute Thorisdottir rifled in the winner which was set up by Ramona Bachmann.

When asked her thoughts on the game, Hayes hailed her team for our determination and resilience, and explained her difficulty in selecting her starting XI.

‘I have learnt a lot this weekend. When you’ve got a top group of players, picking 11 of them is really challenging because there are world-class talents sat on the bench.

‘We’ve got Magda Eriksson and Millie Bright at the back, how unlucky is Maria Thorisdottir, she’s an unbelievable player who is being kept out by two unbelievable players, so she’s going to have to adapt if she wants to get into the team.

‘Is that goal unusual?’ she asked rhetorically. ‘If you have been in our training environment you would see that she’s smashing them in all the time. She’s a winner and like Ramona, desperately unlucky not to be in the team, I can only pick 11.’

Hayes gave an in-depth analysis of the match and praised her team for the second-half performance, and the Chelsea boss was always confident her side would produce such a display.

‘The players that I picked to start the game today took a while to get into the game, we were too passive and I felt the last 15 minutes of the first half we got a handle on the way they [Arsenal] were building out,’ she said. 'The second half we were totally dominant and I am so over the moon for Maria Thorisdottir and Ramona Bachmann because those two deserve to be in the team, but so does everybody else.

‘It’s not about not deserving, sometimes you just select a team that you think is going to win a game. It’s neither about proving managers wrong, I don’t believe in that. What I think it is is proving your team-mates right and your manager right that you add great value. In return I have to keep reminding them of their importance and their value.’

Chelsea went into the break trailing 1-0 despite being on the front foot. It was extremely important that the Blues came out for the second half in the same manner if they were to find a route back into the game and Hayes revealed what she said in the dressing room at the break.

‘I said that we’re going to have to be more aggressive. We said we’re all going to do it together or not at all and that’s what I felt happened. One pressed and then the other pressed, football is not difficult, it is not that complicated,’ said Hayes.

‘I hate platitudes like you’ve got to want it more than them, but I felt that rung more true than not. I said to them you have got to want it more than them because we are the better team and that little bit of belief just grew in the second half.

‘We sit above Arsenal and we are producing performances that I know we are capable of and last year has gone, it’s dead and buried.'

Other topics Hayes mentioned included the quality of her squad, plus Fran Kirby’s journey back to full-fitness.

‘I have an unbelievable dressing room,’ Hayes admitted. ‘I'm blessed and privileged to coach amazing people that are recruited on the basis of that character so I never doubt my team.

‘I'm not saying I can control results but I can influence performances and I know more often than not that my team perform for me because of the people they are.

‘There was not an issue of belief, I just felt that we could never recover last year, whereas now there’s a learning of how you can lose a season at the beginning of the year but you don’t necessarily win it. So I can say that we’re not out of the title race which this time last year we were, that’s the only difference.

‘I have not been saying a lot about Fran Kirby because there is huge expectation on that player but it’s really important for everyone to know that she has made her way back from really critical injuries, so you need to understand that.

‘For a very explosive player, she might need more time to recover, so it’s important that we build her in this period. You can’t just go from zero to 90 minutes and no, she isn’t anywhere near her best level yet, but she’s come through another game, she grew in confidence.

'I value her life, and her career, and so I think you have to put that in front, and protect her because there are not many talents like Fran Kirby, believe me.'

The Blues’ next home games takes place on Sunday 17 November, with a 3pm kick-off against Manchester United. Tickets are on sale and priced at £1 for juniors (aged under 20) and seniors (aged over 65) and £9 for adults.

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