‘It’s embarrassing’: Arsenal forced to wear Chelsea socks to avoid kit clash

The kick-off to Chelsea and Arsenal’s clash in the Women’s Super League was delayed by 30 minutes due to a kit clash, as the Gunners brought the wrong socks to Stamford Bridge before losing 3-1 to their title rivals.

The 7pm start was delayed because Arsenal, the away team, had to change into black socks bought from the Chelsea club shop. The Gunners had warmed up in white socks, but they clashed with Chelsea’s home kit and Jonas Eidevall’s team were told moments before kick-off that they had to find a replacement.

The black socks Arsenal sourced had blue trim, and looked to have been bought from the Chelsea club shop. The Arsenal players had to wear tape covering up the Chelsea badge, midway up the sock.

Chelsea had played in blue shirts, blue shorts and a changed colour of blue socks in the reverse fixture at the Emirates in January. But Arsenal seemingly forgot about the switch, and officials did not realise until just moments before kick-off.

Former Arsenal striker Ian Wright posted on Twitter/X during the delay: “Embarrassing this. Ridiculous.”

The delay was also a bad look for the WSL’s marquee fixture, according to former England international Karen Carney, with the match broadcast live on Sky Sports and with a crowd of over 32,000 at Stamford Bridge.

“People make mistakes but the game does not need this and it’s frustrating,” said Carney on Sky Sports. “We’ve waited so long to talk only about football in the women’s game.

“Clearly it’s a human error, a mistake, but it’s embarrassing. It’s embarrassing for the players and I’m frustrated. This is a massive crowd, a massive game.

“It’s a simple thing, a kit and we have got it wrong. We will move on and have to, but it does not look good for the game.

“Arsenal this season, off the pitch, have been magnificent, they have led the way in terms of crowds, attendances, marketing, it’s just a mistake from them.”

Things went from bad to worse for Arsenal as they conceded three goals inside 31 minutes at Stamford Bridge, with Chelsea’s win leaving the Gunners six pioints off the pace in the title race.

Chelsea forward Lauren James put in a star performance on the pitch to lead Chelsea to victory, but Arsenal manager Jonas Eidveall said he would not be making excuses after the delay to the game.

“There was a clash of colour and it only came to mine, the players and Chelsea’s attention very, very late,” Eidevall said. “We were told we couldn’t play with those colours and we had to adapt.

“That was exactly the same for the other team as well. I’m not going to make excuses - that would be ridiculous. It was the same for both teams. We had to adapt.”

In October, the Arsenal men’s team wore a changed colour of red socks along with the rest of their home kit when they played out a 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge.