Irons start couldn’t be much tougher

The Hammers under 23s will continue their pre-season build-up at Barnet tomorrow ahead of the season opener against Spurs on Monday August 13 at the Lamex Stadium in Stevenage.

And we have been told that it’s more likely that the youngster everyone is talking about – Nathan Holland – is more likely to be involved in that clash than the first team squad at Norwich.

The under 23s  follow up with outings against  Billericay Town and Watford before facing Spurs in their opening League fixture having picked up four points in the league against their London rivals last season.

Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool are our hat next three opponents in a tough start , with the fixture against the Gunners scheduled to be played at London Stadium on Friday August 24  (7pm ko).

City will visit West Ham’s regular U23 home ground – Dagenham and Redbridge’s Chigwell Construction Stadium – on Sunday 19 August five days before the Friday visit of Arsenal. Games against Brighton and Hove Albion and Chelsea follow to complete the first six fixtures.

Academy boss Terry Westley said: “That’s about as tough as it gets but we are a confident side after finishing fifth in our first season in Premier 2 and we are all looking forward to it.”

 

About Hugh5outhon1895

Hugh Southon is a lifelong Iron and the founding editor of ClaretandHugh. He is a national newspaper journalist of many years experience and was Bobby Moore's 'ghost' writer during the great man's lifetime. He describes ClaretandHugh as "the Hammers daily newspaper!" Follow on Twitter @hughsouthon