Confusion has been put to bed over how West Ham’s FA Cup replay at Bristol City will be settled if it’s a draw.
West Ham head to Ashton Gate to take on Bristol City in an FA Cup third round replay on Tuesday night.
The Hammers’ clash with the Championship Robins has been chosen for TV and fans will be all too aware why as the BBC smell a banana skin.
The replay is an unwelcome addition to West Ham’s heavy fixture workload.
But it is one hosts Bristol City undoubtedly deserve after more than holding their own in a 1-1 draw at the London Stadium.
It’s been a pretty gloomy start to the new year for West Ham in contrast to the way 2023 ended for the east Londoners.
TV bosses eye Hammers c-upset
There has been a spate of injuries to a host of key Hammers stars.
David Moyes has lost star boy Mohammed Kudus to AFCON until next month. There have been drab home draws against Brighton in the Premier League and Bristol City in the FA Cup and no headway has been made on bringing in any new signings in the January transfer window.
There is renewed optimism among West Ham fans this week, though.
Lucas Paqueta, Jarrod Bowen and Konstantinos Mavropanos all left the pitch injured in the first game with Bristol City. And initial reports had suggested all three face long spells out.
But Mavropanos is back for the game at Ashton Gate, Paqueta has denied he will be out any longer than a month and Bowen could be fit to face Sheffield United this weekend.
Confusion put to bed over how tie will be settled
The Hammers have also remained in the top six despite teams around them playing while they had a weekend off.
West Ham fans will – as always – head to Bristol City in large numbers despite the wintry weather and the game being on TV.
But there have been question marks over what will happen if the two sides cannot be separated again.
Well confusion can be put to bed over how West Ham’s FA Cup replay at Bristol City will be settled if it’s a draw.
Changes to the FA Cup’s format and rules in recent years have not helped when it comes to supporters fully understanding the various scenarios. Especially as League Cup ties go straight to penalties in the event of a draw nowadays.
Extra-time and penalties in place
So it’s no wonder some fans are still confused about whether extra time and penalties are used if required.
Well we can confirm that West Ham will be required to play extra-time should they draw with Bristol City followed by penalties in the traditional format.
In the 2020-21 and the 2021-22 season, all replays were scrapped due to fixture congestion.
But they were brought back for the third and fourth rounds of the 2022-23 campaign.
West Ham fans making the trip to Bristol may be in for a late night as extra-time and penalties will be required if the Premier League side cannot get the job done.
The winner of West Ham’s tie at Bristol City will host the winner of the Notts Forest v Blackpool clash in the fourth round – which will be played on the weekend of 27-28 January.
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