North London is white! Arsenal drop their red home kit for match against Liverpool
Arsenal will wear an all-white kit at home for the first time in their 138-year history when they host Liverpool at the Emirates Stadium this weekend.
The usual Arsenal red-and-white home strip will be “drained of red” as part of the club’s campaign against knife crime and youth violence.
It is the third year in a row that Arsenal have worn a “No More Red” kit, but the first time they have done so in a home match. Never before in their history have they worn all-white in a competitive home fixture.
The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show that there were more than 13,500 knife-enabled crimes in London in the year to June 2023, a rise of 21 per cent on the previous 12-month period.
As part of the campaign, Arsenal and kit manufacturers Adidas are investing in more safe spaces to play football in Islington. This year will see the opening of a third refurbished community pitch in the area since the campaign was first launched.
The all-white shirts will not be available to purchase but a “bespoke community T-shirt” will go on sale for £30, with the money raised going towards the campaign’s charity partners.
Arsenal have had mixed results in their all-white kit in the past two seasons. In January 2022, they lost 1-0 to Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup third round, before last year’s resounding 3-0 victory at Oxford United at the same stage of the competition.
In Sunday’s third-round tie, Mikel Arteta will hope his team can bounce back from two consecutive losses, to West Ham United and Fulham.
Arteta has guided Arsenal to FA Cup glory before, in 2020, and is expected to name a strong team against Jurgen Klopp’s side. After Sunday, Arsenal do not play again until they meet Crystal Palace on Jan 20.
