West Ham United U23s will kick off their 2021/22 Premier League 2 campaign at London Stadium, facing Arsenal U23s for a third consecutive league game.
The fixture marks a repeat of the junior Hammers’ final match of last season, an enthralling 2-2 draw in which both teams exchanged late goals to secure their respective places in Division 1 of domestic development football.
The week prior, West Ham’s U23s had defeated the Gunners 2-1 at Boreham Wood to put themselves on the verge of safety.
Now, for the first time since facing Leicester City U23s at the King Power Stadium in November, Dmitri Halajko’s development squad will play a league game at a first-team stadium, looking to get their season off to the best possible start on the evening of Monday 16 August.
The U23s’ fixture list, released today, also sees them visit Brighton & Hove Albion in August, before hosting Chelsea at Rush Green Stadium – where the majority of their home matches will be played – the following week.
A busy September schedule sees three Premier League 2 games scheduled around visits to Ipswich Town and Colchester United in the Papa John’s Trophy group stages, comprising trips to Leeds United and Derby County and a home match against newly-promoted Crystal Palace.
October’s highlight will be another exciting London derby – a trip to Stevenage’s Lamex Stadium to take on Tottenham Hotspur away – sandwiched by home matches against Everton and Manchester United. The month concludes with a final Papa John’s Trophy group stage trip to Gillingham.
November is the young Hammers’ busiest month in Premier League 2: trips to Leicester City and reigning Division 1 champions Manchester City alternate with home games against Liverpool and Blackburn Rovers.
West Ham's U23s are also on the road in December, travelling to Palace and Liverpool before the festive break. They resume their campaign in January with home games against Leeds and Leicester and the corresponding reverse fixture against Arsenal.
February features a Manchester double-header for the Hammers, with an away game at Manchester United and a home fixture versus City, as well as a trip to Blackburn to round the month out.
The Hammers’ season run-in kicks-off in March with a trip to Chelsea before back-to-back London Stadium matches against Brighton & Hove Albion (Monday 21 March 2022) and Tottenham Hotspur (Monday 4 April 2022).
Halajko’s squad will play their final away game of the season against Everton in Southport at the end of April, before their last match of the season at home to Derby County in the opening days of May.
Supporters should note that all fixture times and dates are subject to change.
