It has been nearly seven months since Hayes made clear her intention to depart, with her job as the new boss of the United States being confirmed later that month.

They led the division with 13 points from their first five games when the news was made public and still had the league, Champions League, FA Cup and League Cup in their sights.

Now the league is their only chance of a trophy after losing the League Cup final and being knocked out in the semi-finals of the other two, and even that is unlikely given they trail leaders Manchester City by six points.

Chelsea do have a game in hand, but only have three league games remaining.

Former Liverpool striker Courtney Sweetman-Kirk questioned whether Hayes’ departure may have acted as a “distraction”.

“’Do you want to do that for her?’ has been a consistent line of questioning for these players,” she said on Sky Sports.

“It’s not that they’ve dropped the ball per se but it will be interesting to see in six months, 12 months, whether they feel in hindsight if it’s been more of a distraction than it should be for them.”