A player who has seen the women’s game evolve beyond recognition since she first joined the club in 2017, the Scotland international exudes determination in everything she does.

Whether that’s committing 100 per cent effort in marshalling the midfield area or pouring her efforts into her studies away from football, she proudly gives her all in whatever she sets her mind to.

And as she explains how she’s evolved as a player during her time at Chelsea, it’s clear that there are some things about Erin Cuthbert which have remained the same.

‘After 300 appearances, I’m a little bit wiser, a little bit smarter in my movements,’ she reflects. ‘I’ve played a lot of different positions, so I'm probably a lot more knowledgeable than I was 10 years ago.

'I joined as a midfielder, then Emma put me at striker, then on the wing, then I played at full-back. Then I finally played in midfield, where I'd always wanted to play - the role I played when I first joined the club.

‘My personality traits are still the same as when I joined Chelsea. I still want to be that tenacious player, still want to be brave and willing to take risks, and be a good team player.’

Cuthbert arrived at Chelsea as a teenager who had moved far away from her home in Scotland, and it was only natural that there would be an adjustment process as she got to grips with her new surroundings.

Now one of the senior leaders of the team – wearing the captain's armband in our FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City on her 300th outing – she looks back on the moments when she first felt like she belonged at Chelsea, both on and off the pitch.

‘On the pitch, it was when I started getting the respect of my team-mates, when they started trusting me in tight spaces, giving me the ball more, and I felt I could really go and make things happen,’ she explains. ‘It was when I started to feel how I did back when I was at Glasgow City, that I could be the one to make the difference.

‘It's more of a feeling of how you perceive that the players look at you. That took a good six months for the players and even the manager to trust me a little bit because I was a stranger, I was a nobody.

‘Off the pitch, it was when I stopped napping all the time. I used to have a nap after training every day. It was just a sheer information overload that I wasn't used to. There was a lot more focus on recovery; it was a full 360. You're getting your medical treatments, everything is happening, and it’s so overstimulating. There was more focus required than I had ever experienced.

'Even though before then I’d been getting up at half five, left the house at six, trained at seven in Glasgow, went to uni straight after it, then went straight to club training in the evening, got home at 11pm and did it all again the next day, I still felt being a professional footballer was harder than that.

‘So when I felt my body start to adjust, I felt like I could recover a little bit better without the daily nap.’

When she assesses the facilities available to players at Chelsea now as opposed to when she signed for the club, the difference couldn’t be more stark.

‘It’s absolutely mental to think about it,’ she grins. ‘I remember the changing room was tiny. People were sitting on the floor. We didn’t even have enough lockers for everybody. We just made the best of it; the vibes were always high.

‘It's crazy to say, and the game has come so, so far, and I still think there's more room for growth. Things have grown exponentially, and it’s in line with how the women's game has grown; Chelsea has grown with it.’