The potential trouble involving football hooligans at this summer's World Cup in Russia could be an unnecessary worry, as the few English fans travelling may not be met by hostile hosts.
According to Martyn Ziegler, chief sports reporter for the Times, the recent trouble involving English fans in Amsterdam is not representative of what is expected to happen during the tournament, as very few fans are actually travelling.
Arsenal's Europa League draw against CSKA Moscow would have been a litmus test for potential trouble during the international tournament, but Ziegler says a fear of native hooligans means very few fans will actually make their way to Russia.
"I actually don't think there's going to be a big issue of trouble with travelling fans in Russia, either with Arsenal or England, just because of the fact that I don't think that many will go, because they've been deterred by what happened with Russian fans during Euro 2016".
"If you look at some of the ticket sales for the Panama and Tunisia games that England are playing, they've sold less than 2,000 tickets for each of those matches. It's by far the lowest sales certainly for any World Cup that can be remembered".
While Russian fans may be the main concern for worry, Ziegler also noted the recent violence caused in Amsterdam as a reason for the low ticket sales, as English supporters are worried about being mistaken for one of the more violent members of their own fan base.
"For most England fans who turn up to Wembley this is a really, really unfortunate situation. They are tarred with the same brush. It's a deterrent for anybody travelling abroad now I think".
Another reason Ziegler notes for the potential of a more serene environment in Russia this summer is down to the fact that Russian President Vladimir Putin won't tolerate bad publicity marring what should be a historical period in the country's history.
Despite certain politicians condoning the violence their fans conducted during Euro 2016, Ziegler says that if Putin makes it known that there will be no tolerance for trouble, the country should be safe.
"There is sort of a controlling force drifting down into these hooligans from the state apparatus in Russia, so I think if Putin wants there to be no trouble there will be no trouble, I think we can be assured of that".
"I still can't see that it's going to be in his interest to have the embarrassment of trouble at the World Cup where he's trying to project a positive picture for the rest of the world. We're not just talking about Britain and the USA, the whole of the world is going to be watching and he's not going to be wanting scenes of Russian hooligans beating up English fans on the street".
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