Cat assaulter Kurt Zouma returns for West Ham against Newcastle; shamed again

Newcastle fans held inflatable cats and taunted defender Kurt Zouma with songs as he played for West Ham against Newcastle United in their Premier League clash on Saturday. 

The Frenchman had sparked a massive public outrage after a video of him abusing his cat at his Essex home went viral earlier this month. The horrific incident, filmed by his brother Yoan, led to the Zouma's cats being taken away by the RSPCA, and the defender was fined 250,000 pounds.

Ahead of Saturday's clash, West Ham boss David Moyes said that he believed Zouma was 'really disappointed' with his actions. Zouma has apologised after the video went viral amidst calls for prosecution and suspension.

Also read: After cat kicking video, will France's Kurt Zouma miss Qatar World Cup 2022?

Zouma was pulled out of last week's 2-2 Premier League draw at Leicester City due to a stomach bug, but Moyes insisted the defender should focus on football as he deals with the ramifications of the video.

"He's better, but it's taken him a couple of days to get over it. He had a quite bad illness," Moyes told reporters. 

"He's trained the last couple of days, so I'm hoping that he'll be available. I think he's probably really disappointed about what he's done, and he's thinking about it a lot, no doubt, but overall we have tried to get him to move on," the West Ham manager added.

"He's really well-liked here amongst the supporters with the performances he's put in throughout the season already, so hopefully, he can focus on his football, and we'll give him as much support as we can until we get him right back to his best," Moyes concluded.

Also read: Kurt Zouma could face 4 years jail-term in France for kicking cat; call for suspension grows

The 27-year-old France international, who started today's clash against the Magpies, felt the brunt of the recent outrage, with fans booing him every time he touched the ball. The away fans of Newcastle United also chanted, "Heyyyyyy, Hey Zouma, Oooh, Aahh, I wanna know, how you kicked that cat." Outraged football fans also took to Twitter to express their displeasure over Zouma continuing to be part of the West Ham line-up.

However, there were a few voices who came out in support of Zouma, with several West Ham fans hoping the defender ends up scoring a goal in the clash to end the ongoing drama over the cat-abusing video.

The Hammers are in desperate need of a win to keep their top-four hopes alive. A win will take West Ham temporarily up to fourth in the league, one point above Manchester United.