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.
