Runaway, table-topping West Ham United qualified for the Europa Conference League knock-out stages as they made it four wins out of four in Group B with back-to-back victories over RSC Anderlecht.

Indeed, David Moyes men now need just one point from their final two ties to win the group outright and automatically leapfrog their way into next year’s last-16.

Saïd Benrahma set the Hammers on their way to a comfortable win with an unstoppable 14th-minute free-kick before Jarrod Bowen produced a thunderbolt of equal voracity to double the lead on the half-hour mark.

There was never going to be any way back for the Belgians after that and, although Sebastiano Esposito netted a late, late consolation from the penalty spot, the headlines will not be about the Hammers superiority.

Instead, they will sadly be dominated by the behaviour of the travelling supporters who caused mayhem in those closing minutes, setting off flares, smoke bombs and hurling seats in shameful Stratford scenes.

Sunday’s 3-1 victory over Fulham had lifted the Hammers into 13th spot in the Premier League and that also signalled a fifth win in six outings in all competitions for Moyes rejuvenated side.

Turning his focus towards that automatic qualification, the Scot still named an experienced starting line-up despite making eight changes from the weekend – only Bowen, Aaron Cresswell and Lucas Paquetá held onto their shirts.

Indeed, it was skipper Cresswell who came closest to opening the scoring with a ninth-minute free-kick that cleared both the Anderlecht wall and crossbar after Bowen had been upended on the right-hand edge of the penalty box.

But just five minutes later, West Ham did break the deadlock from opposite side of the area, when Amadou Diawara tripped Benrahma 20 yards out.

Having dusted himself down, the Algerian single-mindedly fizzed the consequent free-kick beyond the Anderlecht wall and inside the left post leaving Anderlecht skipper and keeper Hendrik Van Crombrugge groping at thin air, as he claimed his second goal of the season.

The two previous competitive meetings between these sides had both taken place in Brussels with Anderlecht winning the 1976 European Cup Winners’ Cup final at the Heysel Stadium before the Hammers won by the only goal of the game on Belgian soil at Lotto Park, last Thursday.

Also winning 3-1 on Sunday, Felice Mazzu’s side had bounced back from that Group B defeat with a domestic victory at Mechelen and that saw them arrive in London in ninth spot in their native Jupiler Pro League and in second place in Group B, five points adrift of the Hammers.

Fabio Silva had netted in that weekend win and, having seen his side now fall behind at London Stadium, Wolverhampton Wanderers’ £35million, on-loan striker then tested Alphonse Areola with a 20-yarder that the French keeper held before Angelo Ogbonna departed with a knee injury to be replaced by Craig Dawson.

But West Ham quickly shrugged off the blow of seeing their Italian defender hobble away as they doubled their lead on the half-hour mark.

This time, wing-back Emerson Palmieiri burst down the flank before squaring to the lone-figure of Bowen on the edge of the area and, after steadying himself with a touch, the England World Cup hopeful let fly with a rasping, rising 18-yarder that sizzled past defenders Moussa Ndiaye and Kristian Arnstad plus keeper Van Crombrugge before ripping into the net.

Attempting to reply to Bowen’s clinical fifth goal of the campaign, Yari Verschaeren sent a couple of efforts wide, while Esposito also forced Areola to tip an angled 20-yard shot around his left post to keep West Ham’s two-goal lead intact at the break.

Pablo Fornals replaced Paquetá for the second half and after Emerson twice went close, the Spaniard almost marked his arrival with a goal but Moussa Ndiaye bravely charged down his close-range shot.

A flurry of substitutions followed for both sides, with six-goal Gianluca Scamacca replacing Bowen and Declan Rice coming on for Cresswell in the Hammers line-up, while Flynn Downes joined Paquetá in referee Willy Delajod’s notebook.

With a quarter of an hour remaining, though, Moyes was faced with a worrying final, enforced switch in central defence when substitute Dawson limped away as Tomáš Souček entered the fray and duly ripped an angled shot into the side-netting.

As the news filtered through from Bucharest that five-goal Silkeborg were running riot at FCSB, it was clearly all becoming too much for the Anderlecht supporters, who realising that they had now yielded up second place in Group B, worringly began lighting flares and hurling seats in some of the most unsavoury scenes ever witnessed in six years at London Stadium.

With smoke drifting across the Stratford sky, the consequently-cautioned Ben Johnson was harshly adjudged to have upended Esposito and the on-loan Inter Milan striker lifted himself from the turf before sending a low penalty inside the base of the right-hand upright.

But that proved a mere consolation for the Belgians who now have much work to do if they are to qualify for those knock-out stages, while the Hammers having secured top-spot with this victory now need just one point from their remaining two ties against Danish side Silkeborg (home) and Romanian outfit FCSB (away) to reach the comfort of that last 16.

West Ham United: Areola, Coufal, Cresswell (Rice 63), Johnson, Ogbonna (Dawson 22, Souček 75), Downes, Lanzini, Emerson, Bowen (Scamacca,63) , Benrahma, Paquetá (Fornals 46). Unused subs: Randolph, Hegyi, Coventry, Forson, Potts, Scarles.

RSC Anderlecht: Van Crombrugge, Debast, Delcroix, (Hoedt 78), Ndiaye, Diawara (Sadiki 59), Arnstad, Verschaeren (Vertonghen 66), Murillo, Amuzu (Stroeykens 66), Esposito, Fabio Silva (Stassin 78). Unused subs: Verbruggen, Coosemans, Raman, Ishaq, Ait El Hadj, Sardella, Leoni.

Booked: Arnstad (9), Paquetá (36), Downes (59), Johnson (88).

Referee: Willy Delajod (France).