2020-21 Premier League kits recap

With the Premier League season well over and our kit-tracker finally completed, there is a tiny window in which to reflect on the season from a kits point of view before Euro 2020 starts.

To that end, we have roped in Gavin Hope, better known as @kit_geek on Twitter, to provide some interesting observations while all of the colour-combinations used are shown. Home shirt variations are in the left-hand column, change kits (away and third) are together in the middle and goalkeepers are on the right – sponsor variations seen during the season are not shown, perhaps we’ll manage that for 2021-22.

For a fuller look at the various statistics, check out Gavin’s own excellent blog.

Gavin: So as the end of the 2020/21 Premier League season has now come to an end and from a Kit Point of view it has been an interesting season and there have been plenty of kit talking points that have seen debate amongst the Kit Community and into more mainstream football talk.

First, an overview of the kits worn this season: 109 different kit variations used, with 66 goalkeeper kit variations. Manchester United used most kit variations of the season with 11 kits used in their 38 games, this was made of five different variations home kit used, three away kits and three third-kit combinations – see their section for more.

It was the first season since 2017-18 that no team wore a ‘fourth kit’, however we did see Arsenal and Everton in 2021-22 away kits in their final away games, which meant they used three change kits each in total this season.

The most worn kit of the season was Wolverhampton Wanderers home kit, which was used 32 teams, however their white/ blue away kit was only used once all season in the loss at Liverpool and ended the season as one of only two kits (with Sheffield United’s third strip) not have a point scored in it.

The most worn change kits were from West Bromwich Albion, who wore their yellow and green away kit 12 times in their 19 away games and the most worn third kit was Burnley’s yellow and claret kit, used nine times in total.

West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers were the only two teams in the League that did not use a variation of kit, only using their default home away and third kits. Read on for more insights beneath various team galleries.

Arsenal

Arsenal achieved a Premier League first from a kit point of view when Wolverhampton Wanderers visited Emirates Stadium in November as the Gunners used their away shirt to create an all-white goalkeeper kit as their designated kits were deemed to clash with Wolves and their kit options. Although more commonly seen in European Leagues, this was the first time an outfield shirt was used as a goalkeeper shirt in the Premier League. For 2021-22, Arsenal have registered their new yellow away as a goalkeeper option.

Aston Villa

Between December 20 and January 30, Aston Villa wore six different kit variations in six games – due to some of their games being postponed there were five away games in this period for The Villans.

Brighton & Hove Albion

Brighton & Hove Albion were the only team not to use a third kit: their designated third strip, the all-black 2019-20 away, was not needed.

Burnley

Chelsea

Crystal Palace

Everton

Fulham

Leeds United

Leicester City

Liverpool

Manchester City

Manchester City ended the season with a 100 percent win record in their paisley third kit, securing seven wins in its seven appearances.

Manchester United

One of the details to call out here is that two different pairs of black socks were used with their home kit. The original, which were retailed, had the same ‘flecked’ pattern as the home shirt and contained the wording ‘Manchester United’ and were only worn in the first game of the season at home against Crystal Palace. The second pair of black socks used were standard adidas teamwear socks, essentially the alternative set for the third strip, and used throughout the rest of the season in the league.

A final observation of Manchester United’s kit usage was that they used their five home kit variations before they wore a change kit in the league. They used four different home kits in their first four games and then used their fifth variation in their seventh game at Everton before they first used a change kit in the away game at Southampton on November 29.