No arrests reported during West Ham’s draw with Stoke at the London Stadium
Saturday 5 November 2016 19:56, UK
There have been no arrests reported after security was strengthened at the London Stadium for West Ham's 1-1 draw with Stoke.
Metropolitan Police Officers were stationed inside the stadium for the first time in a bid to avoid a repeat of fan clashes which marred the club's EFL Cup tie with Chelsea last month.
Previously, officers had been based outside the ground and only entered when violence broke out but instead supplemented stewards during Saturday's game to segregate Stoke fans from home supporters and Sky Sports News HQ's Aidan Magee said there were no reports of trouble.
"I did manage to speak to a police officer here at the London Stadium and he said that as far as he was aware there had been no arrests either inside or outside of the ground as West Ham drew 1-1 with Stoke City," he said.
"It was the first match played here, of course, since Chelsea came here infamously in the EFL Cup just 10 days ago.
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"Police were on duty for the first time inside the stadium and we heard from David Gold and David Sullivan, the co-chairmen of West Ham, who wrote in the programme notes before the game that there would be a range of initiatives in place to ensure everybody's safety, both home and away fans.
"Those included a 10 metre sterile zone in place on the walkway just between the lower and upper tier segregation on the away fans and that appears to have worked quite well.
"Some stewards were issued with cameras on their lapels and, indeed, in their hands to try and record issues of disturbances throughout the game.
"We were also here just before the game where we filmed the netting between the away fans and the home fans, the area that had caused so many flashpoints in that Chelsea game. That was widened and we saw no disturbances there.
"It appears at this stage that the match has passed off without incident. Slaven Bilic did say after the game that he was pleased that there were no issues of trouble in the crowd and he was delighted to be able to focus on preparing his team for the game."