Arsene Wenger appeared frustrated at his presser on Friday morning when speaking about the fights, which took place between West Ham and Chelsea fans midweek.
The boss always has been in favour of safe standing and although he claims he still is, he admits that the hooliganism that occurred at the London Stadium as the Hammers beat Chelsea 2-1 in the EFL Cup, isn’t the best advert.
"We're not used to it in this country. I'm in favour of standing but that's not a very good advert. Hopefully #WHUFC get rid of it quickly."
— Mark Mann-Bryans (@MarkyMBryans) October 28, 2016
One of the arguments that many have against having safe standing at Premier League football grounds is that it will encourage violence between fans.
West Ham’s co-chairman, David Gold, is actually said to be in the early stages of bringing in a safe standing section into the former Olympics stadium. Although I’m not so sure that’ll happen now.
Wenger believes that having the fans closer invokes more passion and could ultimately be beneficial to football teams but the West Ham and Chelsea fans’ antics on Tuesday give those who are against safe standing an argument.
When and if safe standing sections are introduced, it’s not as if all the fans from both teams will be clumped in together but the lack of control is concerning. It shows how easily ‘passion’ from a few angry individuals can spill over and essentially ruin it for everyone else.