Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher believes an improvement in scoring from set-pieces and being able to defend them better has been the difference in Chelsea being able to mount a Premier League title charge so far this season.
Although the campaign is only 11 games old, the Blues, who return to Champions League action when they FC Krasnodar at Stamford Bridge this evening, have already scored eight times, excluding penalties, from set-pieces already this season.
That tally of eight is just three fewer than what they managed during the whole of the 2019/20 Premier League season, providing proof that it is a key element of their game that head coach Frank Lampard has been working on.
Whilst it is easy to point out that the Blues have strengthened their set-piece routines with the addition of Hakim Ziyech and his wand of a left foot, French centre-back Kurt Zouma has been key when coming up from the back to attack set-pieces, particularly corners.
Already this season, the 26-year-old Frenchman has scored four times, three of which have come via corners, including his header in Saturday's 3-1 win over Leeds United.
And for Carragher, Chelsea's work on set-pieces in training, in terms of attacking them and defending them, could significantly bolster their prospects of winning the Premier League title this season for the first time since the 2016/17 campaign.
Carragher told Sky Sports: "Can Chelsea win the league? Have they got one of the best squads to win the league?
"I just wanted to look back at how important set-pieces were in terms of who has won the league.
"I mentioned Zouma again and how important he has been this season. Frank Lampard knows how much a goal-scoring centre-back's important; he had John Terry, the best goal-scoring centre-back, I think, in Premier League history.
"But if we look at the last 10 years of teams who have won the title and how important scoring goals and conceding goals from set-pieces is, you see that everyone's goal difference is plus, so everyone does better in terms scoring than conceding [from set-pieces].
"A big one that really stands out for me, even though Frank wasn't there, how important set-pieces were to the [Antonio] Conte Chelsea, that three at the back, with powerful players coming up.
"Plus 15, that is the biggest difference we have seen in the last 10 years, so they are vital, set-pieces.
"But what is really important is, if you go down to Chelsea at the very bottom [of the screen], that is Frank's first season. They scored 11 and conceded 15.
"Compare that 11 to everybody else in the last 10 seasons, in terms of winning the league, it is well down, and conceded is massively up on every title winner of the last 10 years.
"Now, set-pieces could win or lose you the league, but you have to be really good at them, this is what the Premier League shows. They were minus four last season. The numbers they are getting means, set-piece wise, they can win the league.
"They'll need a lot more than that, of course, but if they had the record they had last season they can't win the league.
"History shows you that with the last 10 winners."
In total, the Blues have scored eight times from set-pieces in the league so far this term and have conceded just three, which is 12 less than they conceded last season.
