Green Street Hammers
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West Ham’s Premier League opening day trend finally broken

By Henry Tomlinson

LONDON, ENGLAND - MARCH 14: LONDON, ENGLAND - MARCH 14: A General view of the London Stadium, home of West Ham United as all Premier League matches are postponed until at least April 4th due to the Coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic on March 14, 2020 in London, England. It has been announced that all football league matches, including the Premier League and Women’s Super League, have been postponed until at least April 4 in response to the threat of coronavirus. This follows UEFA's decision to suspend fixtures in the Champion's League and the Europa League, as many top flight players enter self-isolation. (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - MARCH 14: LONDON, ENGLAND - MARCH 14: A General view of the London Stadium, home of West Ham United as all Premier League matches are postponed until at least April 4th due to the Coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic on March 14, 2020 in London, England. It has been announced that all football league matches, including the Premier League and Women’s Super League, have been postponed until at least April 4 in response to the threat of coronavirus. This follows UEFA's decision to suspend fixtures in the Champion's League and the Europa League, as many top flight players enter self-isolation. (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images) /
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The season opener in recent times has usually seen West Ham take on one of the traditional top-six teams for the last, but no more.

In the last seven years, West Ham has faced Tottenham, Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool, Manchester City and Liverpool in that order. This set of tricky fixtures means that The Hammers have lost six and won only one of their previous seven opening day fixtures.

This season there could be a more positive start to the season. West Ham will be welcoming Newcastle United to the London Stadium for the season opener. The Magpies, however, won’t be the most straightforward game. The Hammers lost their home match against the Geordies last season. This won’t bother fans though, who are just excited not to face the prospect of starting the season with a 4-0 or 5-0 drumming.

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Despite what seems like a better start because of the first game being against Newcastle, the next four games could be tricky. The Hammers will have to take on Arsenal and Wolves who took six points from West Ham last season. David Moyes men will then travel away to play two European competition clubs in Leicester City and Tottenham Hotspur.

By the start of November, the Hammers would also have taken on the Champions Liverpool and Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City. Six of West Ham’s first seven games are against six of the previous season’s top eight sides. It could be a long couple of months for Hammers fans.

One other significant change to the fixture list is that West Ham will finally have the chance to play a home tie against Brighton and Hove Albion on boxing day. Since moving to the London Stadium the Hammers have not been able to at home due to issues with Christmas shoppers at the local shopping centre. Although, the Hammers may have been allowed to play at home as fans may still not be at games because of the pandemic.

The Hammers will close out the season against Southampton which should be good news for  fans. The club has a good record against the Saints, doing the double over them in the 2019/20 season. Fans can be positive that if the Irons need points on the last day of the season that the club has a chance of attaining them.

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So a tough start for the Hammers. It would hard to see them anywhere outside of the bottom three with the current transfer activity or lack of. In the meantime, the West Ham squad are in Scotland preparing for their friendlies against Ipswich Town and Wycombe Wanderers.

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