Hayes and her side face London City on Friday as we begin our FA Cup campaign before crucial trips to Manchester City in the Barclay’s FA Women’s Super League on Wednesday, and then Bayern Munich next Sunday for the first leg of our Champions League semi-final.The Blues on international duty have now returned to Cobham and Hayes highlighted the importance of getting our FA Cup campaign underway with a strong performance and a victory at Kingsmeadow tomorrow night.She said: ‘It’s absolutely massive that we start this block in a really positive way.‘Everyone is looking forward to this stage of the season, we are happy to be competing on all fronts because that’s what you work towards doing from the beginning of the season and we are ready to go.’With a vital run of games coming up for Chelsea, Hayes may well utilise her squad for the visit of London City. The Blues boss hopes the players who are given the opportunity on Friday are able to produce the high standards that were set prior to the recent international break.She added: ‘We are really excited to start the FA Cup campaign, especially at home against a local London rival.‘It’s the first of many games that become critical to the outcome of our season.‘We are looking forward to getting those run of games going in what will be a competitive game but one that I’ll expect the players who are given the opportunity to play, to continue to provide the quality that everybody has been showing, especially in the second half of the season.’

London City are currently sixth in the Championship, and although they’ve had a mixed bag of results, there have also been signs of quality from the Lionesses.Tomorrow’s opponents secured victory over Leicester City earlier in their campaign, a side that have now been crowned champions of the FA Women’s Championship and Hayes is wary of the threat the Blues will be coming up against.‘It’s the magic of the FA Cup, it inspires everyone,’ said Hayes. ‘I’m sure they’ll be putting everything into disrupting us and making it difficult.‘I hope that the experience we’ve got in our group doesn’t take anything for granted and we will focus on getting our game right.’Friday’s game kicks off at 7pm and is available to watch on the 5th stand app, the women’s official Facebook page and our YouTube channel (available to UK audience only).