This season’s north London derbies will have a similar feel to them with the usual excitement and passion, however they will have a different look than seasons gone by.
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.
Designed in collaboration with adidas and distinguished British African heritage brand, Labrum London, it celebrates our players and supporters of African heritage, who are an instrumental part of our club.
The decision by the PGMOL and Premier League will also mean Tottenham will wear different colours when they visit Emirates Stadium in January.
Arsenal will head into the Spurs clash looking to make it three wins in a row at the home of their North London rivals, however they will have to do it in unfamiliar colours.
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.
The Gunners will go into the game with a number of players missing. Declan Rice is suspended following his red card in the draw with Brighton, while new signing Mikel Merino has been made to wait for his debut after picking up an injury in training.
Fellow new signing Riccardo Calafiori is also absent, as is Martin Odegaard, with both players joining the casualty list during the international break.
The new shirt has returned the Gunners to their roots placing a stripped-down, elegant-looking canon right over the heart of the new shirt. Shirt manufacturers Adidas have produced a “clean and minimal” and the design “embraces modernity, while honouring Arsenal’s rich heritage.
Arsenal have announced that the PGMOL and Premier League have ruled that their 2024-25 home kit features too much white and clashes with Tottenham Hotspur’s traditional colours.
As a result, the Gunners will wear their black away kit for Sunday’s North London derby at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
It will be the first time since the 1985-86 season that Arsenal have worn their away kit in a north London derby, according to the Arsenal Shirt Collection group.
As expected @Arsenal will wear our all black away shirt this weekend. The last time we wore our away kit in the #NorthLondonDerby was in 1985-86, when Tottenham had white home shorts and the FL’s shorts-clash rule was in force. @museumofjerseys #ArsenalShirt pic.twitter.com/JQbGfkwzB4
— Arsenal Shirt Collection (@ArsenalShirt) September 10, 2024
The Gunners discussed the option of wearing red shorts and socks on their home colours for the game, but it was rejected.
Tottenham will also wear their away colours when they visit Emirates Stadium to face Arsenal in January.
The Gunners were made aware before the start of 2024-25 that this season’s home kit could be deemed to feature too much white for their game against Spurs, but as the norm is, they had settled on designs for new kits and ordered them with Adidas months in advance of the new campaign.
Arsenal have already worn their black away strip this term when they faced Aston Villa at Villa Park in their second Premier League game of the season, securing a 2-0 victory in it.
They will fancy their chances of leaving Tottenham with all three points having won each of their last two games at the ground of their bitter rivals.
Arsenal won 3-2 on their last visit back in April and they also emerged 2-0 winners against them in January 2023.
Spurs last won against the Gunners in May 2022 and could find it difficult to do so on Sunday with the trio of Dominic Solanke, Richarlison and Micky van de Ven all likely to miss the game due to injuries.
Arsenal also have issues of their own, with captain Martin Odegaard expected to miss the trip after twisting his ankle on Monday, while both Declan Rice (suspension) and Mikel Merino (injury) are unavailable for selection, with Riccardo Calafiori also a huge doubt.
Bein pundit Richard Keys has expressed his surprise at the decision to ban Arsenal from wearing their home kit in this weekend’s North London Derby against Tottenham.
Arsenal faces Spurs in a crucial match, and traditionally, both clubs have worn their home kits in this fixture for the past 38 years due to the clear difference in their colours.
However, the Premier League has ruled that Arsenal’s home shirt this season contains too much white, prompting them to instruct the Gunners to wear their away kit instead.
Arsenal attempted to find a solution, such as wearing red shorts, but this proposal was rejected, and they will now have to wear their away kit for the game.
Despite the kit controversy, Mikel Arteta’s team will aim to secure victory, though Keys has voiced his confusion over the Premier League’s decision.
He posted a screenshot of the news on X and captioned it:
“You can not be serious….”
Just Arsenal Opinion
The kit decision has already been made, and we have to focus more on our preparation for the fixture.
Spurs will be delighted by the news that Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard will miss the game for us, but we have to prove that we can still win matches regardless of who is missing from our team.
Next up for Tottenham Hotspur, it's the fixture everybody looks out for at the start of the season; the North London Derby. Spurs do have the home advantage but they will be greeted to a new-look Arsenal team... Literally.
In the past, one thing has been inevitable between Tottenham and Arsenal; Tottenham wear white and Arsenal wear red.
Whether or not this is a result of meticulous derby day planning is unknown but it has been pretty synonymous with the North London Derbies of the past.
However, in the ever-changing landscape of the sport, fans will have to train their eyes for something rather different this season.
According to a report from Arsenal's official club website, they will be wearing their away colours against Tottenham Hotspur this weekend. This is because PGMOL has deemed the Arsenal home kit as having too much white, which would clash with Tottenham's traditional white.
As a result, this also means that Tottenham will wear their away kit when they travel to the Emirates Stadium on January 14, 2025.
Arsenal's away kit this season is primarily black. It also has red and green features, so there will be no clash with Tottenham's traditional home colours.
In all honesty, it is a shame. While kits do not determine performance, part of the allure of the North London Derby is the white vs red narrative. As mentioned, this kit clash does also hinder Tottenham, who now need to wear their away kit later in the season.
Either way, the North London Derby will be a spectacle. News has not been kind to either team, with both Ange Postecoglou and Mikel Arteta missing key players for the fixture.
The derby will kick off as part of the infamous Premier League super Sunday.
Latest Arsenal news and gossip as the Gunners will be forced to end a 38-year tradition when they face Tottenham Hotspur in the North London Derby clash in the Premier League
Arsenal have been forced to break close to a four-decade-long tradition against Tottenham Hotspur after a Premier League decision.
Sunday will see the Gunners face Spurs in the first North London Derby of the season at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Mikel Arteta's side go into the game with seven points from their first three Premier League fixtures before the international break and will be looking to bounce back from the 1-1 draw with Brighton.
The fixture will see Arsenal wear their away kit in the North London Derby, breaking nearly a four-decade-long tradition in the process. Arsenal confirmed earlier this week that they would be wearing their away kit, which will be the first time in 38 years that has happened in a match against Tottenham.
It was confirmed that the decision was taken for Arsenal to wear their away kit after conversations with the Premier League and PGMOL. The Gunners stated on their club website that the club's home kit “features too much white”.
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Arsenal stated the option of wearing red shorts and socks with their home shirt was discussed, but the decision has been taken for the Gunners to wear their predominantly black away kit.
Arteta will be forced to make at least one change to his starting line-up for the North London Derby. Declan Rice will serve a one-game suspension following the two yellow cards he received during the draw with Brighton.
There is also uncertainty over the fitness of Martin Odegaard, who suffered an ankle injury during the international break with Norway. Mikel Merino, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Kieran Tierney are all sidelined with injuries, but Gabriel Jesus is expected to return to the matchday squad.
