Sam Kerr capped a week in which she signed a new contract with a hat-trick, while Fran Kirby notched her 99th and 100^th goal for the Blues during a 5-0 win. Is this as good as it gets?

Fran disappeared in a mob of colleagues (above) after scoring No100.

Meanwhile, Lauren James has made debuts for Chelsea in both the Champions League and Super League.

The question now is whether Chelsea Women can top it all off with a win against Arsenal at Wembley on Sunday December 5, in the Covid-delayed FA Cup final, after another international interlude?

Arguably, it’s James’s arrival that’s the best news of all. At just 20, she’s so full of potential, and she’ll learn so much under gaffer Emma Hayes and alongside Pernille Harder (who is restarting training), Kerr and Kirby.

Her cute touches, instinctive ball control and power runs in the dying minutes of the whitewash of Birmingham were inspiring, and suggests the manager was right to ease her gently into the fray after a string of injuries and setbacks.

The high points of Sunday’s Kingsmeadow match were Kirby’s brace of goals which took her to 100, and Kerr’s first-half hat-trick against a demoralised Birmingham, in the middle of announcing a new manager.

Kerr celebrated by doing a backflip with triple pike somersault, corkscrew twist and extra marshmallows.

“It was a great performance,” said Hayes after Sunday’s game. “A great hat-trick for Sam, and Fran’s got 100 goals. It means a lot to her. She’s missed a lot [of playing time] through injury, so to get that in front of the home fans is a moment she’ll cherish.”

Hayes didn’t see the backflip as she was checking something on a screen in her new tiered dugout area.

Looking at Arsenal, still leading the WSL, Hayes said that the goal-scoring was important to goal difference, which could come into the reckoning towards the end of the season. “It’s fantastic for us,” she said.

Chelsea has remodelled Kingsmeadow with a string of subtle changes, to meet Uefa’s international rules. The pitch has been slightly narrowed at the main stand side, to give players slightly more room to take throw-ins.

The international break will give Chelsea’s backroom staff a few days off. “It’s been relentless for them,” said Hayes. All the staff will monitor the internationals, with fingers crossed, in the hope that a full squad will be available for selection at Wembley.