Following the mid-season break, the Blues returned to competitive action last weekend and recorded a hard-fought 3-1 victory over West Ham United in the fourth round of the Adobe Women’s FA Cup.

Goals from Mia Fishel, Erin Cuthbert, and Aggie Beever-Jones cancelled out Viviane Asseyi’s first-half opener to book us a date with Crystal Palace in the fifth round next month,

Attention has now turned back to league action with Manchester United visiting Stamford Bridge for a blockbuster WSL fixture on Sunday. The Blues go into the game top of the table but without Kerr.

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In her pre-match press conference this afternoon, Hayes provided an update on Kerr, who had surgery on the ACL injury she sustained during our warm weather camp in Morocco earlier this month.

‘She has had the surgery, yes,' Hayes stated. 'The first part is recovering from the surgery and letting the swelling go down. She is still in that phase at the moment but she is doing well.’

With Kerr ruled out, there is a goalscoring void that needs to be filled. Hayes appreciates that responsibility cannot be placed solely on one player in his squad, and highlighted the impact Fishel and Beever-Jones made last time out against West Ham.

She said: ‘There has been good conversation this week between the team and with us about the things we have to do to get to that point. It’s a collective responsibility, we’re a team. We’ve all identified the right area but we need to put it into action.

‘The reality is there are top players in our team who are capable of contributing to the goals, and it’s important they step up. Like it was for Mia, when she came off the bench, Aggie Beever-Jones is producing such a goal threat when she comes into the game.

‘No matter who you are, everyone has to take responsibility.’

New signing Nathalie Bjorn made her Chelsea debut last time out and the Swedish defender has received high praise from the Blues manager, who believes her know-how and experience in the WSL will prove invaluable.

‘She has settled in so well. She is a natural leader and very confident in her abilities. What is helpful is she knows the league, has played against every team, is prepared to play in the WSL.

‘She is a player we have been looking at for a long time and we felt the time was right given her age and experience. She has come in and hit the ground running – and I thought she made a massive impact when she came on against West Ham.

‘She has had a good training week but, of course, we’re still adapting to her and vice versa, but I don’t think she could’ve asked for a better start.’

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