Nuno Espirito Santo warns of West Ham set-piece 'trauma' ahead of Arsenal clash

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Evening Standard

·3 octobre 2025

Nuno Espirito Santo warns of West Ham set-piece 'trauma' ahead of Arsenal clash

The Gunners are renowned for their attacking quality at the set-piece, while the Hammers are among the worst in the league at defending them

Nuno Espirito Santo has admitted West Ham’s set-piece issues could become psychological if they do not address the problem quickly.

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No team has conceded more goals directly from corners than West Ham this season, and they were caught out on the second phase of a corner during Nuno’s first game in charge against Everton.

West Ham’s problems in this department, particularly in defending the back post, are well documented, and Nuno has focused his first few days on the training ground on set-piece organisation.

Nuno says he is determined to make sure his players don’t get into the habit of fearing the worst whenever they concede a corner.

“It can become a psychological issue. But we will try to avoid it,” Nuno said in his first pre-match press conference as West Ham boss.

“The worst thing that can happen is that if an opponent gets a corner, we start immediately thinking that we are in trouble. It's not the mindset.

“That can happen. It can become a trauma.”

Nuno has a lot on his plate as he tries to steer West Ham away from the relegation zone but said he would not be looking to bring in a dedicated set-piece coach, insisting that the staff at the club were more than capable of managing set-pieces.

“Everybody, the coaching staff, has the ability and the capacity to help. It's not an individual. It's us as coaching staff that we have to solve, help the players find the right positions.”

West Ham take on Arsenal this weekend, a team who have built a reputation for their quality from set-pieces under Mikel Arteta. They have scored 36 goals from corners since the start of the 2023/24 season.

Nuno is aware of the challenge Arsenal will pose and said his side would need to find a different approach to prevent the Gunners from capitalising on their aerial prowess.

“We’re going to face one of the toughest opponents, I would say, in football these days. So, it will be a test,” Nuno, whose Nottingham Forest side hadn’t conceded a goal from a corner by this time last season, continued.

“We need a different approach. We need to find another solution that can prevent us from a corner. Not only the corner, the second phase is so important.”