The Blues take on Everton in the second of three consecutive home league fixtures which began with the 2-1 victory over Liverpool on Wednesday night. Goals from Niamh Charles and Sam Kerr secured a valuable three points in our first league fixture since 12 March.

Brian Sorensen’s Everton arrive in the capital sitting sixth in the league table and will prove another difficult assignment for us to pass on Sunday evening. Ahead of the match, Hayes has spoken about being mentally ready for the challenge our opponents will pose.

• It's a 6.45pm kick-off on Sunday at Kingsmeadow. Click for ticket info

‘The first challenge on Sunday is to make sure we’re wide awake from the first minute,' she said. 'We weren’t against Liverpool, and they punished us for that, which meant we were then chasing the game from that moment. So, we need to be better prepared, mentally.

‘It’s understandable, considering we’d just come from a semi-final in front of 72,000 fans to playing in front of 1,600 people in a midweek league game, and sometimes people forget that these players have been going since mid-July, and they’ve had to keep digging and digging and digging. Credit to them for finding a way, yet again.’

We have five league matches remaining before the end of the season, plus an FA Cup final at Wembley next Sunday. It’s a congested schedule and Hayes is adamant our mindset will not change, saying that we will continue to approach each game as it comes.

‘This part of a season is always really tough – even more so with a World Cup on the horizon – but we’ve got a gutsy group that loves winning trophies. Wins like Wednesday night’s will give us the confidence that we can keep going and picking up the results we need to achieve our goals.

‘One thing we won’t be doing is getting ahead of ourselves in any way. The end might be in sight this season, but we won’t deviate from our mindset of taking each game as it comes. That starts with Everton and it’s all about taking care of the performance. If you do that, you’ll get your reward the vast majority of the time.’

Hayes has confirmed Millie Bright remains unavailable for the match.

'I don't know when Millie will be back but I think slim chances in the next couple of weeks, if at all for the remainder of the season. She'll make the World Cup, I am sure of that.

'Kadeisha [Buchanan] might be back. That could be one we could consider next week. She is back on the grass.'

Maren Mjelde missed the Liverpool game with a jarred back. It is a minor problem but the timing of her return is uncertain.