Rice screamer for Arsenal seals West Ham’s worst home defeat since 1963

It was an afternoon when the West Ham support could not bear to watch. So many of them did not. Four-nil down in first-half stoppage-time, their team as abject as Arsenal had been assured, there was a remarkable scene on the concourses outside the London Stadium – a knot of thousands of home fans, who did not appear in any rush to return.

Some of them did, trickling in as the second half got going and there was a point – after what had to have been a good deal of conscience-searching – when the ground did not look too empty. That would change. Continue reading...