West Ham United and Southampton have agreed to switch their encounter on Saturday 19 August from London Stadium to St Mary’s Stadium.
The Matchweek 2 fixture was scheduled to take place at West Ham’s home ground, but due to the World Athletics Championships taking place at the London Stadium that weekend it has been reversed.
Instead, West Ham will host Southampton on Saturday 31 March. The date and time, currently 3pm for both matches, are subject to change.
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Southampton Football Club can confirm an agreement has been reached with West Ham United to reverse their two Premier League games ahead of the 2017/18 campaign.
Saints, who were scheduled to play the Hammers at London Stadium on Saturday 19th August 2017 (3pm), will now host the fixture at St Mary’s stadium due to the 2017 IAAF World Athletics Championships taking place in the capital.
The reverse fixture between the clubs will be on Saturday 31st March 2017 at London Stadium (3pm kick-off).
This means that our first Premier League away fixture of the campaign will now be against newly-promoted Huddersfield Town on Saturday 26th August at the John Smith’s Stadium.
Please note, as with all Premier League fixtures, these dates are still subject to change due to TV scheduling.
West Ham and Southampton have confirmed that their Premier League fixture has been reversed in light of the World Athletics Championships at the London Stadium.
The Hammers had been due to host the Saints on Saturday August 19, but will now travel to St Mary’s - six days after the athletics finishes in east London.
West Ham will now host Southampton at the London Stadium on Saturday March 31.
An agreement between the two clubs and the Premier League means West Ham will now play their first three top flight games away from home.
The London Stadium’s first match of the campaign will be on September 9 against Huddersfield.
Putting the London Stadium back into ‘football mode’, which includes re-erecting temporary seating over the athletics track, takes several weeks. The club are obliged to leave a ‘clean stadium’ for both the World Para Athletics Championships (July 14-23) and World Athletics Championships (August 4-13).
The club store and ticket office will remain open throughout the summer but West Ham branding has already been removed from the outside of the stadium.
Southampton will speak with former Alaves coach Mauricio Pellegrino imminently and may appoint him as the club’s new manager by the end of this week, sources close to the club have told ESPN FC.
Saints are looking for a new head coach after sacking Claude Puel earlier this month, and Pellegrino viewed as a leading contender as he ticks many of the boxes laid out by the club as they look to appoint a candidate who will fill the role for an extended period.
Southampton’s Head of Football Development Les Reed and his technical staff are keen to identify a coach with experience of top-level football, a clear philosophy on the game and a desire to embark on a long-term project to try and take their club into the top six of the Premier League on a regular basis.
Pellegrino’s experience of English football from his time working alongside Rafael Benitez at Liverpool is also viewed as positive.
All candidates are urged to confirm that they will not use the club as a stepping stone to the next stage of their careers. Southampton are keen to avoid a repeat of managerial appointments in recent years when Mauricio Pochettino and Ronald Koeman left following successful spells at the helm.
Reed has been leading the process to identify a new manager, with Reading boss Jaap Stam among those initially considered before Pellegrino emerged as the outstanding candidate.
Saints officials see similarities in Pellegrino to former Saints manager Pochettino, with their ethos and work ethic, but the final decision on his candidacy will be made after meetings with the club.
Former Ajax and Inter Milan coach Frank De Boer, who is also reported to be under consideration to become the next Crystal Palace manager, is also a contender for the Southampton post, but Pellegrino is currently viewed as the leading candidate.
Club officials are eager to have a new manager in place well before the first team players return for fitness test at the club’s Staplewood training base on June 29, before a preseason tour of Austria and France.
No decisions on player transfers will be made until the new Southampton manager is place, but the club say they have no desire to sell star defender Virgil Van Dijk this summer, despite reported interest from Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City.
Saints have agreed to switch their Premier League fixture at West Ham to St Mary’s - meaning they’ll now face a gruelling four successive away trips in March and April.
Saints were scheduled to play the Hammers at the Olympic Stadium on Saturday, August 19 – the second weekend of the campaign.
However, the stadium will be unavailable that weekend as it cannot be returned to ‘football mode’ in time after hosting the world athletics championships.
“Southampton Football Club can confirm an agreement has been reached with West Ham United to reverse their two Premier League games ahead of the 2017/18 campaign,” said Saints in a statement.
"Saints, who were scheduled to play the Hammers at London Stadium on Saturday 19th August 2018 (3pm), will now host the fixture at St Mary’s stadium due to the 2017 IAAF World Athletics Championships taking place in the capital.
“The reverse fixture between the clubs will be on Saturday 31st March 2017 at London Stadium (3pm kick-off).”
This will now mean that Saints play Newcastle, Swansea, West Ham and then Arsenal away in consecutive games.
The pricing structure has been simplified into Category A and Category B prices which can be found here.
With three games priced lower than last season as well as a new family area, this means that 25,000 seats are cheaper than in the 2016/17 season.
Tickets for our opening home game against Swansea City (Category B) will go on sale to 2017/18 Official Members on Monday 10th July (9am), with general sale coming three days later on Thursday 13th July 2017 (9am).
For a full list of on sale dates ahead of the 2017/18 campaign, click here.
West Ham’s first home game of the 2017-18 Premier League season will come in September after the fixtures with Southampton were reversed due to the World Athletics Championships taking place at the London Stadium.
West Ham had been scheduled to host Southampton on Saturday, August 19, but the athletics showpiece finishes less than a week earlier, running from August 4 to August 13, and it will take time to return the stadium to ‘football mode’.
The reversal of the fixtures means St Mary’s will host the August match and Saints are scheduled to return to West Ham on Saturday, March 31, 2018.
West Ham had informed supporters of the change when the fixtures were published last week and it was confirmed on Monday.
It means the Hammers’ first three games - against Manchester United, Southampton and Newcastle - are away, with Huddersfield scheduled to be the first visitors following the international break on Saturday, September 9.
Southampton duo Nathan Redmond and James Ward-Prowse combined for the decisive goal, as England secured a vital 2-1 win over Slovakia at the Under-21 European Championship finals.
Redmond ran onto a stunning cross-field pass from Young Lions captain Ward-Prowse in the 61st minute, before cutting past a defender and rifling a shot into the far top corner.
It was a crucial goal that gave England the three points they need after their 0-0 draw with Sweden in their opening group match last week.
For some time, though, it appeared as if Aidy Boothroyd’s team could be heading for a disastrous result, as Martin Chrien struck midway through the first half to give Slovakia the lead.
But Swansea’s Alfie Mawson poked home an equaliser five minutes after the interval, before Ward-Prowse and Redmond made their pivotal contribution.
The comeback victory at least momentarily moves England to the top of the Group A standings, ahead of their final match of the group stage, against hosts Poland, on Thursday, when they will look to seal a semi-final spot.
Fellow Saints players Jack Stephens and Matt Targett were both unused substitutes for the game.
Southampton and West Ham have agreed to reverse their Premier League fixtures next season, to make way for the IAAF World Athletics Championships at the London Stadium in August.
West Ham will now travel to St Mary’s on Saturday August 19, with the reverse fixture at the London Stadium taking place on Saturday, March 31; both fixtures will kick off at 3pm.
West Ham’s first match, on Saturday, August 12, is away to Manchester United and the third, on Saturday 26, is a trip to Newcastle.
Their first home fixture will therefore be the visit of Huddersfield on Saturday, September 9.
David Wagner’s newly-promoted side will be the first away game of the season for Saints who now open up with two home games, against Swansea and the Hammers.
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