David Moyes responds to crowd trouble at London Stadium during West Ham United victory v Anderlecht
West Ham secured qualification from their Europa Conference League group on Thursday night, but the result was clouded by fan issues at the London Stadium.
Said Benrahma and Jarrod Bowen scored for the Hammers as David Moyes’ side registered a 2-1 win over Anderlecht, but most of the attention was averted to the stands as fights broke out at the London Stadium.
Ugly scenes erupted in east London as Anderlecht fans began throwing missiles and seats into the West Ham fanbase. Riot police were forced to get involved, and Moyes was asked his views on the incident after the full-time whistle.
“I saw some movement but I didn’t have any interest in it to be honest. Why would we want to draw attention to it?” said Moyes, as quoted by The Independent.
“The players’ job was to get on with it and I thought they did. It’s not what any clubs want connected to them and I certainly don’t want it at West Ham.”
Ugly
What was meant to be a night of celebration for West Ham quickly turned into an ugly brawl thanks to a small pocket of misbehaving fans.
The Anderlecht fanbase brought a collection of pyrotechnics and flares to the London Stadium, and after setting them off in the stands, a number of seats were taken and thrown into West Ham fans along with other missiles.
Riot police were forced to get involved and the whole incident marred what was a very successful result for West Ham. Moyes should have been praising his side’s performance as they maintained their 100% record in Europe this season, but instead the feat has been marred by ugly scenes.
With two games left in Group B of the Europa Conference League, West Ham can secure top spot and skip an extra knockout round by sealing a point against second-placed Silkeborg next Thursday.
The Hammers won 3-2 in Denmark during their first clash, but Moyes may heavily rotate his squad for the second match after already qualifying for the knockout stages.