Possible dates for the West Ham vs Norwich game to be played have been outlined in new report from Sky Sports.
West Ham were due to face the Premier League’s basement boys at the London Stadium on Saturday.
The match offered David Moyes’s side the perfect chance to get their season back on track after a run of just one win in their last six Premier League games.
But West Ham confirmed yesterday that the match has been postponed due to Covid cases in the Norwich camp.
The Hammers vs Canaries match is one of five games that have already been called off for the weekend with four having already been postponed in the latest round of fixtures.
While it offers West Ham the chance for a welcome rest, it does mean they face a third away game in a row off the back of a morale-sapping defeat at Arsenal by the time they next take to the field if the Carabao Cup quarter-final at Tottenham goes ahead on Wednesday night.
Indeed it means West Ham will have played five of their last six matches away from home come New Year’s Day.
Possible dates for West Ham vs Norwich game to be played are outlined in report
With a hectic schedule, complicated by West Ham’s advancement to the Europa League last 16, many fans are wondering when the Norwich game – and any others that may get postponed – will be played.
The Premier League says it intends to “continue its current fixture schedule where safely possible”.
Now the possible dates have been outlined in a new report from Sky Sports.
There currently appear to be 15 midweek slots where postponed games could be played in the new year – however, these often clash with Champions League and Europa League knockout rounds, as well as FA Cup and Carabao Cup ties, should the Hammers beat Spurs next week.
And there is also the option for the Premier League to scrap the two-week winter break at the end of January and start of February.
If West Ham lose to Tottenham in the Carabao Cup then the first opportunity they would have to play the postponed Norwich game is the midweek of the week commencing January 3rd.
The midweek of the week commencing January 10th is the next opportunity but only if West Ham are not playing in the Carabao Cup semi-final second-leg. West Ham would also be without Said Benrahma by this stage as he will be at the African Nations with Algeria.
Midweek of the w/c January 17th would be the next chance for West Ham vs Norwich to be played but again Benrahma would not be available.
The midweek of w/c January 24 and the midweek of w/c January 31 – if winter break is scrapped.
But during this fortnight West Ham would lose Michail Antonio due to his involvement in rearranged World Cup qualifiers for Jamaica. And The Africa Cup of Nations will still be ongoing so Benrahma will likely still be away too.
The FA Cup fourth-round weekend – February 5/6 – would be an opportunity for Premier League sides knocked out of the competition to play, too.
The midweek of w/c February 14 will see Champions League last-16 ties taking place.
But this would be an opportunity for West Ham to play Norwich in a rearranged fixture as rules preventing Premier League games from taking place at the same time as Champions League matches ended in 2017.
Midweek of w/c February 21 is the same as above while the midweek of w/c February 28 would be available too but only if West Ham and Norwich fail to make it to the FA Cup fifth round.
Beyond those dates it starts to get very tricky for West Ham to fit in rearranged games due to their involvement in the Europa League last 16 and the March international break.
And depending on how far Moyes’s side go in the competition, the next opportunity may not be until a week or two before the season ends on May 22. Failing that the games may be played beyond the end of the season should the Premier League decide to extend – which in itself is complicated by the start of the Nations League matches on June 2nd.