Victories earlier in the day for Manchester United and Arsenal saw them draw level on points with the Blues, but only momentarily as three points in the East Midlands saw us reclaim our three point advantage at the summit.

We showed conviction and confidence in front of goal with Fran Kirby and Jessie Fleming netting braces while Guro Reiten, Niamh Charles, Sam Kerr and Bethany England were also on target, lightening the mood on a dreary December afternoon.

• Chelsea Women have three home games before Christmas. Click for tickets

A busy fixture schedule awaits the squad who began the run-in to Christmas in fine fashion, with one more league encounter to come before the festive break, which sees us welcome Reading to Kingsmeadow next Sunday.

Having spoken in the build-up to Leicester about using their preparation time to good effect, Hayes was pleased to see areas being worked on in training coming to fruition, praising every individual for carrying out their role effectively.

‘I’m just happy to see us working on the things we work on in training. The most important thing for me is that we take that work into here and that everyone across the squad can play the roles we ask them and execute at the level we do. I really like that for 90 minutes we sustained a performance today.’

There was special recognition from the manager for Reiten, who notched one goal and four assists one day after her nomination for the November WSL Player of the Month award, with the winger adding another five goal involvements to her tally for the season.

‘I didn’t know it was five, but wow. Guro is in an unbelievable place. We’ve always known about her quality but what I think is happening with Guro is that consistency with every game. She is finding higher levels in everything she’s doing, she’s been outstanding this season.’

Another quick turnaround sees us travel to Real Madrid in midweek for matchday four of the UEFA Women’s Champions League. Hayes commented that the result against Leicester sets the tone ahead of a testing trip to the Spanish capital.

‘It breeds confidence in the group. The entire squad have really worked hard to get us to this position and I feel more and more confident everyday that everyone can deliver what we’re looking for. It gives us confidence going into a big game.’