West Ham United plan to issue banning orders to 200 fans in the wake of the ugly scenes that marred their 2-1 EFL Cup win over Chelsea at the London Stadium on Wednesday night.

The club have resolved to take a strong stand over the various issues of bad behaviour, which saw the worst offenders throw missiles including ripped-up seats, bottles and coins at their Chelsea counterparts. They plan to issue lifetime bans to those individuals.

But West Ham are also mindful of the battering their public image has taken this season because of several flashpoints at their new stadium.

Segregation lines

They are targeting fans who rushed across the segregation lines to bait their Chelsea rivals and made throat-slitting and other offensive gestures.

They want to ban these offenders for the remainder of the season.

The club are in the process of poring over the CCTV footage from the night and they have 200 cases to investigate. But they are confident of being able to identify every perpetrator because of advances in the technology.

A spokesperson for London Stadium partners West Ham United, E20 Stadium LLP and London Stadium 185 said: “An extensive safety and security operation was delivered in and around London Stadium throughout Wednesday’s match with close co-ordination between West Ham United, London Stadium 185 and the Metropolitan Police Service.

“A small number of individuals were intent on becoming involved in disorder and are being investigated, identified and banned from London Stadium as a matter of priority.

“The response of our safety and security teams was measured, fast and effective . . .”

The Football Association has launched an investigation into the crowd trouble, which occurred in stoppage time when the Chelsea supporters in the lower tier of the Sir Trevor Brooking stand made for the exit behind them.

They had to cross over a concourse and as some West Ham fans surged towards them the stewards fought to keep the rival factions apart. Objects including coins and ripped-up seats were thrown and, with a bottle-neck seeming to have formed, it all became extremely ugly for a couple of minutes.

Chelsea supporter Steve Cutting (inset) claims he was hit by a coin thrown after Cheikhou Kouyaté's 11th-minute goal. Cutting, a Chelsea fan for more than 40 years, said: "As soon as they scored there was abuse being hurled over and . . all of a sudden I felt a massive thump on the side of my head, thinking it was a bottle or a stone.

“I put my hand up to my head and realised I’d been cut. I looked down and there were some coins, 50p and pound coins.”

Cutting also criticised the situation outside the ground.

“Coming out of the stadium was a free for all,” he said.

“To get back to Stratford station was ridiculous. It was running battles again, groups of people fighting and trying to get to each other.

“There’s no real clear proper way to get people back to the station safely.”

Guardian Service