West Ham fans storm out after 35 minutes as Chelsea embarrass Hammers

A number of West Ham fans appeared to leave the London Stadium early with their side trailing Chelsea 3-1. As soon as the 35-minute mark, home supporters were seen heading for the exit doors after Enzo Fernandez tapped home to put the visitors in control.

The away fans waved and laughed at their counterparts, who were left jeering their players despite a spectacular start. After just six minutes, Lucas Paqueta's stunning early strike sparked huge crowd noise but the Blues responded swiftly as Joao Pedro headed in from Marc Cucurella's flick on. Optimism was briefly raised again for Graham Potter's side, though, as Niclas Fullkrug scored from close range before it was ruled out following a VAR check.

From that point on, the tide turned. Pedro crossed for Pedro Neto to make it 2-1 to Chelsea, before Estevao, skipped past two players and squared across goal for Enzo Fernandez to tap home.

That strike was greeted by a chorus of jeers from the West Ham faithful. Meanwhile, many simply headed home prematurely, with Sky Sports commentator Alan Smith saying: "Some are leaving already." This theme continued into the second half when Chelsea continued to pile on the misery with a couple of quick-fire goals.

Footage of the departures soon went viral on social media, with the club widely mocked. The Independent journalist Miguel Delaney wrote: "A lot of West Ham fans streaming out of the stand at 33 minutes (Possibly for the half-time pint, but that is in 12 minutes and there are a lot of them)."

Barring a remarkable second-half turnaround, the pressure is already mounting on the players and Potter. They started their Premier League season last weekend with a 3-0 defeat at newly promoted Sunderland.

Fans have criticised the club's board for failing to invest in the side properly this summer, despite key forward Mohammed Kudus leaving for Tottenham. During the interval, pundit Chris Sutton said: "They need legs, they need energy, they need an answer."

Fellow analyst Jamie Redknapp added: "It does feel like there is instant pressure on this team. Not just because of last week, but because of the performances last season as well. If I were the manager, I'd be saying Give me some help here. I think he needs a few players."