West Ham United are waiting to discover how the Premier League plans to finish what remains of the season.
All football has been shut down until April 4th due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
It brought a sudden halt to West Ham’s battle against relegation and a plethora of other issues yet to be decided with a quarter of the season remaining.
There has been much debate, speculation and growing uncertainty over what will happen to the rest of the season.
Football season in limbo
Karren Brady was widely criticised for writing in The Sun that the season should be “null and void”.
Others feel the season must be completed, no matter when, to maintain the integrity of the competition and football as a whole.
With the league in limbo the Hammers are currently outside the bottom three on goal difference.
And they would remain there even if Villa were to win their current game in hand.
How will the season be decided?
They would also remain there should the final standings be calculated on average points.
And of course if the season was ended with the current standings or declared void then West Ham would also be safe.
One suggested method of deciding the relegation issue is a play-off system, which is currently in place in the Bundesliga.
At a meeting on Tuesday, UEFA agreed to postpone next summer’s Euro 2020 finals by a year in order to free up space for leagues across Europe to finish their domestic campaigns.
According to The Mirror, European football’s governing body has demanded the Premier League is finished by the end of June.
New government guidelines and timescales on the virus make the resumption of football – or indeed any sport – any time soon highly likely.
Medical experts expect the virus to peak in late May and June (Telegraph).
UEFA reject relegation play-off suggestion – report
Given West Ham’s remaining fixtures, survival is very much in the hands of David Moyes and his players.
That could become something of a lottery if a play-off system was shoehorned in to decide the Premier League’s three relegated sides.
But according to a report from Italian newspaper La Repubblica UEFA have rejected the idea of any league incorporating play-offs and play-outs to finish their respective seasons.
The idea was put reportedly put forth by Italian FIGC chief Gabriele Gravina after the league shutdown.
The formula was used in Italy 15 years ago – in the 2004-05 season between Parma and Bologna.
But La Repubblica states that UEFA dismissed the idea out of hand.
That would be good news for West Ham. The Hammers had found some good form, and have the best squad in the bottom six.
But a one-off game or two-legged tie between sides – likely behind closed doors – would be extremely harsh on the losers.
Regardless UEFA’s June 30th deadline for leagues to be completed does not look realistic either.
Even it’s president Aleksander Ceferin admitted the timescale may be wishful thinking.
“We think postponing the Euros was the only way to give a chance to all the national leagues and all the club competitions to finish their competitions,” Ceferin said (The Mirror).
“That is not sure for now but we should now think about the health of the fans and the players. We also have to think about football as a whole, the whole ecosystem of football.”
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