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2021/22 English Premier League
Matchday 36
Norwich City v West Ham United
Carrow Road
Norwich, England
Sunday, 8 May 2022
Kick-off is at 15h00
West Ham have a fight on their hands to finish in the European places as they prepare to take on relegated Norwich at Carrow Road on Sunday, May 8.
The Hammers were challenging for a top-four finish not too long ago, but a poor run of form has seen them fall away and they're just three points clear of eighth-placed Wolves, having played one game more.
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Sunday's 2-1 derby defeat to Arsenal extended their winless streak to four matches, although David Moyes felt his team played better than they had done more recently.
"I thought we did okay. I thought we played quite well," the Scot said. "I thought we kept the ball better than we have done and played better with the ball than we have done in a few weeks, but we didn't really have any sort of forward build-up when we needed it.
"But, I've got to say, I thought we played quite well. I thought it was more than the final ball (that was lacking). I think it was a positive which we have to take that we were much better on the ball today."
The Canaries' relegation was confirmed with a 2-0 loss at Aston Villa on Saturday, which left them 13 points adrift of safety with just 12 left to play for.
The target for Dean Smith's side now is to avoid matching their lowest points total in the top flight (21), though they need just one more to achieve that.
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Smith expressed his disappointment in failing to keep the club in the
Premier League after being tasked with getting them out of trouble when he replaced Daniel Farke at the helm in November 2021.
"I'm disappointed for a lot of people - the owners, the supporters and everyone to do with the football club," he said. "I take part of the responsibility because I've come in here to try to keep us up and unfortunately we haven't done enough, but that isn't down to the performance today.
"Unfortunately, in a lot of the bigger games this season, we've not quite reached the levels that we need to. I thought the Brentford game was a pivotal game for us and I felt we needed to keep Watford and Brentford in and around us, so it made it very difficult from there. We've had chances but we haven't taken the ones that we need."
Head-to-Head (Last Five Premier League Meetings)
Matches - 5
Norwich - 0
West Ham - 3
Draws - 2
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