Authorities to investigate West Ham vs Sunderland footage as Premier League image damaged
West Ham took another giant leap towards Premier League survival on Saturday.
With West Ham’s 2-1 win over Tottenham from last Saturday providing a surprise injection of belief, Nuno Espirito Santo‘s side welcomed Sunderland to the London Stadium on 24 January.
West Ham were slight favourites to beat Sunderland ahead of the match, and those predictions turned out to be right.
Goals from Crysencio Summerville, Mateus Fernandes and a Jarrod Bowen penalty saw West Ham beat Sunderland 3-1.
Reinildo was lucky not to be sent off for Sunderland too, on an afternoon that saw West Ham move to within two points of 17th-placed Nottingham Forest.
Second-half scenes threaten to take shine off West Ham win
Sunderland, despite still being one of the Premier League’s big surprise packages of the season so far, are in a bit of a lull at the moment in regards to their form.
Indeed, Regis Le Bris’ side have won just one of their last seven league games dating back to 20 December 2025, with four draws and two defeats in that time period too.
They were, however, able to come into Saturday’s visit to West Ham having taken all three points against Crystal Palace last time out, as they desperately try to keep pace with the top half sides.
They ended the day in 10th ahead of the rest of the weekend’s games, but frustration might just be starting to creep into the Black Cats’ camp.
One player who has been superb for the Wearsiders since his summer arrival is former Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka, who despite being 33, has been running Sunderland’s midfield this season.
Thankfully for West Ham, the Swiss international was unavailable to play against them on Saturday, as he’s been sidelined through injury.
However, he did still travel with the Sunderland squad, and took up a seat at the back of their bench, and that’s where he was captured getting into a rather tasty exchange of words with some Hammers fans in the final minutes of the match.
As captured on video by The Athletic’s West Ham correspondent Roshane Thomas via X, Xhaka can be seen going back and forth with a number of Hammers fans, evidently angered by what was being said.
Stewards and security eventually start moving in to try and cool down the situation, as more and more supporters and Sunderland personnel started to get involved before the video ends.
Keith Hackett predicts Premier League investigation as ‘damaging’ claim made
Needless to say, it was a situation that threatened to spill over into something far more serious.
Thankfully for everyone involved, the situation was able to be brought under control, but speaking exclusively to West Ham Zone, former FIFA referee Keith Hackett doesn’t believe that will be the end of the story.
Hackett told us: “The authorities will be investigating yet another confrontation at the end of the game.
“These actions are damaging the image of the league and sending the wrong messages to those who participate in grassroots football.”
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