West Ham boss Slaven Bilic slams fan violence as unacceptable

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The Hammers beat Chelsea 2-1 in the EFL Cup but more violence at the London Stadium overshadowed an impressive victory.

West Ham United manager Slaven Bilic spoke in his post-match press conference condemning the fan violence that broke out towards the end of The Hammers’ 2-1 victory over Chelsea in the EFL Cup, as shown by BBC Sport.

The Croatian was reluctant to comment on fighting between the two sets of fans after deservedly beating Antonio Conte’s side, but was eventually coerced into giving his take on yet another incident at the London Stadium.

Goals from Cheikhou Kouyate and Edmilson Fernandes were enough to see off The Blues on Wednesday evening to set up a quarter-final tie with Manchester United.

But a fierce London derby was always threatening to raise tensions and the BBC reported that seven people were arrested by the Metropolitan Police as coins, plastic bottles and chairs were thrown and riot police were once again involved in separating both clubs’ supporters.

With reports of clashes and violence at almost every West Ham home game since moving to the Olympic Park, concern is increasing about the inability of the club to oversee matchdays safely with stewards once again coming under fire for their part in failing to deal with problem fans.

After being pushed by journalists to comment on unrest inside the stadium, an agitated Bilic eventually responded and spoke to condemn the outbreak of violence.

“I can only say I’ve noticed it of course, but I was concentrating on the game,” he said as reported by BBC Sport.

“I don’t know what happened, but whatever happened, we are totally against it as a club, as a team and for those kind of things to happen especially in England is unacceptable.”

A high-profile clash with Chelsea was always going to create trouble for both clubs with reports of fans goading and fighting each other in the past, but within the context of West Ham continuing to have teething problems since moving from Upton Park it creates huge concern for the club and police.

Despite West Ham asking for the Met Police in the past to help keep order at Stratford, they have been unable to due to a lack of emergency radio systems available within the stadium.

This latest episode of violence overshadows West Ham’s recent upturn in form with three wins on the bounce and a drastic improvement in performances having lost five of their opening six games at the start of the Premier League season.