Rachel is back!
But West Ham v Spurs is Friday fright night
SECURITY will be beefed up at the London Stadium after Sky Sports took the high-risk decision to broadcast West Ham’s game against bitter rivals Tottenham on a Friday evening. Security operators London Stadium 185 will urge police to make the May 5 clash a Category C fixture. This would boost the number of police and stewards but a final decision will be taken in the coming weeks. The gamble to broadcast the Premier League fixture on a Friday night will see the return of Rachel Riley to co-present the Sky programme with Jeff Stelling and will feature Sportsmail columnists Jamie Carragher and Jamie Redknapp as studio analysts. But questions are likely to be raised over the decision to move the match to a Friday night, when supporters are
traditionally likely to drink more and stay out later in the evening. It is also surprising as it is only the fifth
Friday Night Football fixture of the season and the first for five months since Hull faced Everton in December. The Premier League made the two clubs aware of Sky’s preference in the past fortnight and London Stadium’s Safety Advisory Group have approved the timing. Tottenham have not taken any issue with the scheduling. West Ham and LS185 are confident that they will be able to avert a repeat of the serious crowd trouble that marred West Ham’s EFL Cup victory over London rivals Chelsea in October. West Ham’s win was overshadowed by shameful scenes as supporters brawled. Fans had also clashed in matches against Bournemouth, Watford and Middlesbrough. This led Sports Minister Tracey Crouch to warn West Ham not to ‘return to the dark days of the late 1970s’ and Conservative MP Mark Field called for the club to play behind closed doors. Despite these teething problems, LS185 are now confident they have the security issues firmly under control. On Thursday, sources were keen to highlight that over a dozen consecutive home games have been played without bans. These included potentially inflammatory matches against Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United. However, West Ham and Tottenham fans have clashed before. In November 2015, a 35-year-old West Ham supporter was stabbed in the stomach before a game between the two sides at White Hart Lane and skirmishes broke out between rival fans. Last March, before West Ham’s 1-0 victory over Tottenham, supporters came to blows and a police officer suffered a facial injury as rival fans threw pint glasses at each other near Upton Park. A police spokesman said: ‘The Metropolitan Police Service will have an appropriate and proportionate policing plan in place for the West Ham United v Tottenham match on Friday May 5.’