Kerr had been out since January 2024 but returned to action in our hard-fought 3-1 WSL success at Villa Park. Naturally, it was an Australian who completed the scoring with her 100th goal in Blue.

‘It’s about time she starts annoying opposition goalkeepers!’ joked Hampton. ‘She does it to me in training all the time, and let’s be honest, she definitely makes sure I know about it afterwards!

‘It was great to see her back. It’s almost like we have an extra signing with her back. She’s an absolute demon in the box, always finding the back of the net, so she’ll be a huge help for us going forward.’

Hampton acknowledged the trouble Villa posed us, particularly in the opening 45 minutes when she was called into action on several occasions. It was those contributions that ultimately earned her the official Player of the Match prize.

The keeper appreciates that the Blues were far from our best, but adjustments midway through the game proved pivotal.

‘Villa are going to be a dangerous team this season. They use their width and their two strikers up top when they attack. They’re really fit, they’re really direct, and it’s a good fit. They were hard to break down and we were fortunate with the goals we scored.

‘A lot of their attacking threats were down to our misjudgements, but at half-time we made we fixed that. In the second half they didn’t have as much going forward.’

Winning while not playing well is seen as a sign of champion material, and now Hampton will be hoping for a quieter afternoon when we meet Leicester City on Sunday afternoon.