Why Arsenal have been banned from wearing home kit against Tottenham

Arsenal have been banned from wearing their home kit for Sunday’s clash with Tottenham due to a colour clash.

The ruling comes as the Premier League and referee governing body PGMOL have told the Gunners that their home kit includes too much white on the reverse of the shirt, therefore creating a clash with Spurs’ traditional home colours. Arsenal will now sport their away strip for the game – rather than the red they normally wear on derby day – which will take place at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

It was reported that Mikel Arteta’s side did send a request to the Premier League to wear their red shirt for the fixture. However their plea was turned down.

It has also emerged the club were warned in the summer about the potential kit clash. Nevertheless, with the kits ordered far in advance of the season, production on the new strip was well underway before the issue reared its head and Arsenal decided to press on.

While Arsenal will wear their predominantly black kit this weekend, the reverse fixture in January will see Spurs don their away strip. It will also be the first time in recent seasons either team has had to change colours for the game.

Arsenal did inform fans of the decision in a statement. The club confirmed that their offer of wearing their famed red shorts and red socks was rejected by the powers that be.

The statement said: “PGMOL and Premier League ruled that our 2024/25 home kit features too much white, thus clashing with Tottenham’s traditional colours, even with the option of red shorts and socks for us, which was also discussed.

“As a result, for the first time in recent NLD (North London Derby) history, we’ll be wearing our changed colours, with our black adidas away kit being donned at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

“Our adidas away strip for this season has already got off to a winning start when we wore it for the first time in competitive action against Aston Villa last month. It has been designed to celebrate the rich and well-established connection that our club has to the African diaspora in North London and beyond.”

Arsenal are looking to win their third game on the spin at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Last season saw the first game finish honours even in a 2-2 draw at the Emirates.

The reverse fixture went the way of Mikel Arteta’s team, who opened up a staggering 3-0 half-time lead before eventually running out 3-2 winners. However the chances of Arsenal repeating such a win are in the balance with the club going through something of a mini injury crisis.