Thousands of Arsenal fans are believed to have boycotted the club’s Premier League meeting with West Bromwich Albion.
As many as 20,000 were believed to be considering staying away and, while official attendance figures didn’t look too bad, a number of empty seats could be seen in the first half of Thursday night’s match.
Attendance at Arsenal – 59,568
In reality that is tickets sold.
— Simon Collings (@sr_collings) April 21, 2016
TV commentators attributed the empty seats to issues with the Piccadilly line, though the Holloway Road and Arsenal stations were not among the section of the line affected.
The game is believed to have sold out, though with season ticket holders making up the majority of those absent it will be tough to gauge the full extent of the boycott.
My row at kick off. pic.twitter.com/bspcAnR2Co
— WestStandTone (@WestStandTone) April 21, 2016
I can see an awful lot of empty seats from my view in the Arsenal press box tonight…see @islingtongztte later… pic.twitter.com/8D0p22yFTc
— Layth (@laythy29) April 21, 2016
There were plenty of empty seats. #Arsenal. pic.twitter.com/8JOmGUrwqG
— ARSENAL (@tomgunner14) April 21, 2016
Arsenal about to kick off with empty seats all round haha. pic.twitter.com/ICvl5wIIfi
— MB (@mitch_burgess91) April 21, 2016
The move follows another underwhelming end to the season, which saw the North London club top of the league in January but all but out of the title race before May.
Manager Arsene Wenger has insisted he will not walk away, though suggestions of limited transfer spending over the summer has angered a number of supporters.
Today i join the rest of @Arsenal's fans to boycott today's match Vs West Brom as we demand for the resignation of Wenger #AFC
— Arinaitwe Victor, (PMP)® (@arinaitwevicto1) April 21, 2016
https://twitter.com/nicollback/status/723221319626665985
https://twitter.com/sammiekiogora/status/723221725152993282
https://twitter.com/JohnMcArdle1/status/723221676780085249
