The wait for the return of club football may be dragging for some West Ham fans, but it is not too long now until the Hammers will be back in action.
The fixtures for the Premier League 2019/20 campaign will be released today (Thursday), and Hammers fans will soon be able to plot out when and where they can follow Manuel Pellegrini's men in action this season.
Norwich City, Sheffield United and Aston Villa are all back in the top flight after gaining promotion to the Premier League from the Championship, and as such, they will all visit the London Stadium next season.
But while the fixtures will be released at 9am for all 20 clubs, fans will still have to wait until the TV fixtures are announced, so they can't quite make rigid plans just yet.
We will have all the details right here on football.london of the Hammers' full fixture list.
But until then, here's some key information ahead of the new season.
Fixtures
The fixtures are decided on scheduling.
In any block of five fixtures, a team should play three matches at home and two away, or vice versa.
A team should never have more than two-consecutive home or away fixtures, and a club will never start or finish the season with two-consecutive home or away games.
The key dates
The opening day of the new season is scheduled to be on Saturday August 10.
The final day of the season is scheduled to be on Sunday May 17, 2020.
Community Shield
The Community Shield will be played at Wembley Stadium on Saturday August 4th, where Premier League champions Manchester City will face Liverpool, who finished runners-up in the league.
Winter break
A winter break will come into force in the Premier League for the first time in the 2019/20 season.
It will allow English players 10 days’ rest before the European Championship that summer, when Wembley will host seven matches, including the semi-finals and final.
The winter break will last two weeks, with the break for Premier League clubs set to be staggered over two weekends.
Ten teams will be playing the first weekend and the other ten teams will be playing the following weekend, which will allow all clubs to have a 14-day break from football.
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