Breaking down West Ham’s fixture news and Nobles’ comments

Yesterday morning was like Christmas for West Ham fans; fixtures were released. We break down the details and what Mark Noble‘s farewell ride could look like.

August 14th, 2021 will be Matchday 1 for West Ham and the English Premier League. The Hammers won’t open up at home this season, but they will face a familiar foe as they open up against the Magpies for the second year in a row. This year will be full of firsts and lasts as the Hammers will be playing in the Europa League and saying farewell to their beloved Skipper.

The rest of August has two home matches against Leicester City and a Derby Day against Crystal Palace. If things work out well for the Hammers, they should easily see six points from their first three matches. Finally, September brings an away, home, away setup against the Saints, Red Devils, and Leeds. Best case, seven points; worst case, one point.

As the Hammers get their legs ready for the condensed part of the season, this starting six matches isn’t a bad way to do it. The next two months are scattered with home matches to Brentford, Tottenham, Liverpool, and Brighton, as well as away fixtures against Everton, Villa, Wolves, and City. It’s important to note that West Ham will begin their Europa League play as well.

Breaking down West Ham’s fixture news and Nobles’ comments

The Group Stage’s first two matchdays are slated to begin towards the end of October and then twice again in November. If the Hammers can pull out 12 Premier League points during that span, consider it a solid two months. December will see the final two Group Stage matches and three local Derby’s, and a Boxing Day match at home against Southampton.

Out of the Hammer’s six December matchups, 12-15 points seems to be likely, and that could have the boys sitting around the mid-30s as points go right around the time the schedule flips back over. February sees two home matches at the LS and hopefully seven more points as they face Watford, Leicester, Newcastle, and Wolves. March, however, gets a bit more tricky.

Mark Noble will make his final trips to Liverpool and Spurs, with a home bout with Villa in between. With emotions on high, and depending on where the Hammers are sitting in Europe, this month could look bleak with two to four points total. April flips home and away five times in a packed month against Everton, Brentford, Burnley, Chelsea, and Arsenal.

If West Ham can get eight points out of April, it will be a nice jump up from a tough March. The final month of West Ham’s season and Mark Noble’s career sees both parties away twice and home just once to close out an honored career against Manchester City. Nobes was quoted by the club saying:

"“What a last game for me!” he beamed. “I was absolutely buzzing when the fixtures came out. I was thinking I either wanted Manchester United or Manchester City because everyone wants to see us play against them, so to have such a glamourous fixture for my last game is amazing.”"

Tearful, exciting, nostalgic; all words that can and will describe the final season of Mark Nobles’ amazing career at West Ham. The Hammers finish with 65 points last year and could certainly come close to show their Skipper the way out in style.

He may not be the week in and out Captain on the pitch, but he still has the dressing room and the team as a whole. There’s no doubt that Nobes won’t have the lads ready on all four fronts this season as they look to tackle bigger challenges, more matches, and a historic final run out of their long-lasting hero.