Chelsea boss Emma Hayes responds to potential Lionesses spat

Chelsea manager Emma Hayes has addressed a potential spat that could split the Lionesses after Lauren James 'unfollowed' her international team-mates Mary Earps and Ella Toone on social media.

Chelsea faced Manchester United in the FA Cup semi-finals on Sunday, and the Red Devils progressed to the final thanks to a 2-1 win, despite the best efforts of James who pulled a goal back for the visitors after the Blues had fallen two goals behind.

Following her goal on the stroke of half time, James wanted to get play back underway quickly, but after United's Millie Turner picked up the ball and prevented a swift restart, James got her in a headlock.

Turner subsequently made light of the situation, posting a photo of James putting her in a headlock on her Instagram, among several other images, with the caption 'KAMMOONNNN'. She later re-posted that image onto her story, writing 'See you at Wembley my reds' with a heart-eye emoji and a heart emoji.

It was quickly spotted by fans that James responded by 'unfollowing' Turner, as well as Earps and Toone on social media, three women she has played alongside for England in recent times.

Ahead of Chelsea's return to action in the WSL against Aston Villa on Wednesday, Hayes was asked for her thoughts on the possible rift between the England players.

'We don’t look at Instagram, she doesn’t have it, so I don’t know. I haven’t had the conversation about Instagram with her, we haven’t talked about it,' Hayes said.

'I guess if you read it, or you look at it, I don’t know what the noise is, I don’t know what it says. All I know is that I am focused on what I do every day and my reminder to the team is that you continue to do those tasks.

'I can’t control anything outside of that, so I don’t think