Chelsea boss Emma Hayes responds to potential Lionesses spat after Lauren James 'unfollowed' Mary Earps and Ella Toone in aftermath of Man United players poking fun at her on Instagram

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 appeared to get her in a headlock.

Turner subsequently made light of the situation, posting a photo of the incident 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 about it too much to be honest.'

Turner's behaviour has been criticised by journalist Beth Fisher and fans following the incident.

Fisher wrote on X: 'I don’t know how many times I’ve seen footballers wrestle with the opposition for the ball but yet again there are vile comments towards Lauren James,' Fisher said.

She added: 'Turner’s subsequent social media stuff is totally immature and classless and has added to the pile on.'

X user @LH1999x added: 'Millie Turner and Nancy Baker have completely lost any respect I had for them. Just coz you won, you don’t get to share a picture you know will add fuel to the fire. You may laugh coz she posted it, but LJ is not laughing about it.

'She’s unfollowed Millie Turner, Mary Earps and Ella Toone. She’s removed them as followers. Lauren James did NOT obviously find her photo funny.'

James, 22, the younger sister of Chelsea men's star Reece, was on the receiving end of vile racist abuse on social media last year after she was sent off in England's last-16 encounter with Nigeria at the World Cup for standing on Michelle Alozie.

James reacted to the abuse by restricting the comments on her Instagram account, which has approximately 813,000 followers.

Alozie took to social media afterwards to urge fans to leave James alone.

'Abeg, rest. We are playing on the world's stage. This game is one of passion, insurmountable emotions and moments. All respect for Lauren James,' she wrote. 

James was also targeted after appearing to stamp on Arsenal's Lia Walti in December when the Gunners beat Chelsea 4-1 at the Emirates.

Chelsea subsequently released a statement condemning the abuse, while Hayes revealed that James had been affected it.

'She’s not in a great place if I’m honest,' Hayes said in the aftermath of the abuse back in December.

'She’s a young player. She made an error in the summer. Of course she has to keep learning those things.

'Of course every opponent tries everything possible to get Lauren red-carded. That’s been clear in every game we’ve played and she has to learn to handle that.

'When she gets antagonised in a certain way, managing emotions comes with maturity and that isn’t there yet with her. It reminds me very much of David Beckham in many ways when he got red-carded in the World Cup.

'I think the treatment of Lauren is sometimes very similar and I think we have to realise for a young person, in a day and age when social media is unbelievably vitriolic, some of the nasty language and labelling and name-calling goes over the edge.'

Walti also defended James, posting on X: 'I initially didn't want to say anything, but I can't look away. I absolutely can't stand any sort of abuse - online abuse and any other sort of discrimination is disgusting. No one gets better by putting others down!!!'

James and Chelsea will look to return to the top of the WSL on Wednesday as they play their game in hand on title rivals Manchester City.

City currently sit top by three points, but Chelsea will go back in front with a win.