The unusual reason Arsenal are banned from wearing home kit in north London derby

Arsenal have been blocked from wearing their home colours against Tottenham in this weekend’s north London derby.

Arsenal and Spurs typically wear red and white shirts respectively when the two rivals meet, but that will not be the case at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday, after the Gunners were told by the Premier League’s refereeing body (PGMOL) that their home shirt is “too white” and clashes with Spurs’ home kit.

Arsenal’s home shirt for the 2024/25 season features prominent white shoulders, sleeves and side panels, over white shorts. The Gunners offered to switch to red shorts for the game but that proposal was rejected.

So, in an unusual twist on the derby, Arsenal will instead wear their black away kit.

“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,” Arsenal said in a statement.

“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.”

Arsenal will wear their black away kit at Tottenham (Reuters)

One player unlikely to be involved is the Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard, who is set for a scan on his ankle injury after limping out of Norway’s Nations League win over Austria on Monday night.

The midfielder was left clutching his left ankle after an innocuous-looking tangle with Christoph Baumgartner on the hour mark of the match in Oslo, and was helped off the pitch in tears by teammate Erling Haaland.

Odegaard’s apparent injury is set to be a further setback for Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta, who is already without the suspended Declan Rice for the weekend’s derby clash at Tottenham, as well as the injured new signing Mikel Merino.

Odegaard made his return to England on Tuesday morning, pictured by Norwegian media on crutches as he was helped to board a private jet. Norway team doctor Ola Sand said Arsenal will now look to establish just how bad Odegaard’s injury is.

“He is on his way to London and will have an MRI there later today,” Sand told Norwegian newspaper VG. Asked for what his initial prognosis was, Sand added: “Nothing but a strong overstepping and that we await what Arsenal find.”