West Ham have been devastating from set pieces so far this season.

In four of their seven league games this campaign, the Irons have scored from a set piece. Max Kilman set the tone on the opening day against Burnley, when his header from a corner opened the Hammers’ account for the season.

Since then, Konstantinos Mavropanos has scored three goals in eleven days to become the Championship’s joint-fourth (yes, FOURTH) top goalscorer.

In a division renowned for its physicality, Nuno Espírito Santo’s team have dominated set pieces so far this term. Additionally, they also scored from a corner in the Carabao Cup when Josh Ajala grabbed his first goal for the first team at Southampton last month.

This trend is a far cry from the start of last season, when West Ham were far and away the worst side in the Premier League when it came to set pieces. The Irons conceded seven goals from corners in their opening five games of the league campaign before Graham Potter’s dismissal.

Upon the arrival of current boss Nuno, however, West Ham became much less susceptible from set pieces. In their remaining 33 league games, the Hammers conceded 10 goals from corners and free kicks – a 78% improvement.

And that improvement was on show in the opposition box too, as Mavropanos, Tomáš Souček and Taty Castellanos, among others, proved huge threats from corners in particular.

When Nuno was appointed last season, making the Irons more resolute from set pieces was a priority, and it was something that he worked on successfully. Admittedly, when a team works on defending set pieces, they also become stronger at attacking them.

Despite securing two clean sheets in their last three league games, the jury is still out on West Ham’s defence. The Irons’ potential promotion back to the Premier League could come down to simply being able to consistently outscore the opposition.

Fortunately, Nuno’s side appear capable of finding the net through a variety of avenues. Should they continue to prove as effective from set pieces, we may yet witness a West Ham team as formidable from corners as the lockdown-era side that boasted Souček, Craig Dawson and Angelo Ogbonna, and subsequently enjoyed back-to-back European campaigns.