Happy Hammers: Five reasons for West Ham's good form,

Goalscoring was a huge problem for West Ham last season. The fact that the club’s top Premier League scorer was Kevin Nolan with seven goals highlighted their striker struggles. Carlton Cole did find the net six times but Andy Carroll scored just twice in an injury-hit season, while neither Mladen Petric nor Marco Borriello were trusted with a single league start.

The arrival of Diafra Sakho and Enner Valencia this season has had a transformative effect. “I don’t think they realise what a big impact they’ve made,” says West Ham boss Sam Allardyce. “I think the rest of the team has been lifted by those two.” Sakho has already matched Nolan’s tally from last season and Valencia has also contributed with three goals.

It’s allowing West Ham to press teams from the front and win the ball high up the field thanks to having runners in the channels. They have gone from being a functional outfit to one of the most dangerous in the division with Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham the only teams to have created more chances.As Allardyce suggests, the goals are only part of the story. Carroll and Cole can be effective target men but the new signings add a new dimension. The injection of pace into the Hammers forward line has been significant. Neither of the big men average 50 sprints per 90 minutes. In comparison, Valencia averages 68 and Sakho is up there at 76 – with his 98 sprints against Liverpool being a Premier League record for the season.