As we approach the final round of fixtures of the 2019/20 Premier League season, its always to time to take stock and look back the season and reminisce over the good and bad of the latest season.
There will be plenty of looking back at the season from me over the coming weeks but I wanted to kick this off by looking back at those kits that were only worn once this season.
So far we have seen 107 different kits worn in the Premier League and in this post I want to call out the 24 Kits that have been worn just once, our “One Kit Wonders”.
Arsenal
Southampton v Arsenal, 25th June 2020
Arsenal’s popular away kit, that pays homage to the classic “Brusied Banana” kit, was worn in their 2-0 victory at Southampton with yellow shorts, giving an all yellow look which was also used with the “Bruised Banana” kit against Southampton back in 1991.
AFC Bournemouth
Watford v AFC Bournemouth, 26th October 2019
Bournemouth’s draw at Watford saw the south coast team pair their home shirt with white shorts and socks, giving them a classic AC Milan look.
Wolverhampton Wanderers v AFC Bournemouth, 24th June 2019
One of the (minor) impacts of “Project Restart” was that some clubs had sponsorship deals ending, which in turn saw new kits launched with a significant number of games still to play. Bournemouth was one of these teams, who wore their 2020/21 Home kit from Umbro (with holding sponsor Vitality). This was worn with white shorts and socks in the 1-0 defeat at Wolves in June.
Manchester United v AFC Bournemouth, 4th July 2020
The visit to Manchester United saw Bournemouth use their 2020/21 away kit from Umbro, with a graphic of the famous Bouremouth Pier sublimated onto the aqua shirts, similar to the Manchester United umbro shirt from 1994/96 which had Old Trafford on their shirts. It did not prove a lucky shirt with The Cherries losing 5-3 in this kit’s only appearence.
Brighton and Hove Albion
Newcastle United v Brighton and Hove Albion, 21st September 2019
With Brighton’s away kit being all black it meant that The Seagulls reached into the back of the Kitman’s cupboard at The Amex to pull out 2018/19 away kit to be used as this season’s third kit. In this drawn game it was worn for the only time this season with white shorts.
Aston Villa v Brighton and Hove Albion, 19th October 2019
Brighton’s second “One Kit Wonder” was their home kit worn with blue socks in a defeat at Aston Villa.
Burnley FC
West Ham United v Burnley FC, 8th July 2020
When Burnley visited a fellow Claret/Blue wearing West Ham, it was deemed that their away kit (All Sky Blue) and 3rd Kit (Green/Black) were not enough of a contrast to hosts home kit, Umbro created a one off white shirt to be worn with white shorts and socks to make a “4th Kit”, one of three 4th Kits seen this season and has a 100% win ratio in its use.
Chelsea
Crystal Palace v Chelsea, 7th July 2020
Chelsea’s new sponsorship deal with “3” started on the 1st July, this meant the 2020/21 kits were brought into action at the end of this season. The pale blue away kit saw it first and only appearence of this season in the 3-2 victory at Crystal Palace.
Everton
Crystal Palace v Everton, 10th August 2019
Looking way back to first round of fixtures of the 2019/20 season, Everton were asked by the Premier League to use their third kit from 2018/19 as the “coral” away and navy 3rd kits supplied by Umbro were seen to be too much of a clash to their visit to Crystal Palace, the game ended in a draw and is the one of the three “4th” kits seen used this season.
Manchester United v Everton, 15th December 2019
Everton’s second “One Kit Wonder” was the variation of their home kit, worn with blue shorts that The Toffees wore in their drawn game at Manchester United.
Leicester City
West Ham United v Leicester City, 28th December 2019
Leicester City often use variations of their home kit to avoid unnecessary use of their change kits, their 2-1 win at West Ham saw using their home kit with white socks, a combination only used once this season.
Manchester United
Southampton v Manchester United, 31st August 2019
Manchester United have worn their 3rd kit three times in the Premier League this season, in three different variations, the first worn with white shorts (bespoke to this kit, not the home shorts which have red Adidas stripes) at the drawn game at Southampton.
Sheffield United v Manchester United, 24th November 2019
The second use of the 3rd kit was at Sheffield United with bespoke white shorts and socks, the game ended in a thrilling 3-3 draw.
Arsenal v Manchester United, 1st January 2020
The final appearence of the Manchester United 3rd kit was its only use in its first choice all black variation, the game at Arsenal ended in defeat which means they did not win a single game using their 3rd Kit in the League this season.
Sheffield United
Chelsea v Sheffield United, 31st August 2019
Sheffield United’s versitle white away kit has been used in four different combination this season, the use of white shorts and red (home kit) socks was only used the once, to give us a nice looking kit, the red socks work really well with red Adidas stripes on side panels and shorts, the red flowing through out the kit. The game ended in a draw in what has been an inspresive return to the Top Flight for The Blades.
Newcastle United v Sheffied United, 21st June 2020
Sheffield United’s second “One Kit Wonder” was a variation of their home kit, combined with away shorts and socks to give us an overall “white” feel to their home kit. The kit did not prove a lucky one with the game ending in a 0-3 defeat.
Southampton FC
Newcastle United v Southampton, 8th December 2019
Southampton’s use of their 2018/19 3rd Kit at Newcastle United was called for due to the three kits registered for 2019/20 all clashing with Newcastle’s home kit, this is third and final 4th Kit used this season and the only one that was used by the losing team, the kit was combined with home shorts and socks.
Tottenham Hotspur
Wolverhampton Wanderers v Tottenham Hotspur, 15th December 2019
Tottenham’s visit to Wolves in December saw them use their home socks with their away kit, to give us a Navy/Navy/White variation, tying in nicely with Nike’s Vapor Template’s use of contrasting socks. The game ended in victory for Spurs with an injury time winning goal.
Watford
Newcastle United v Watford, 31st August 2019
Watford are another team that used their away kit from 2018/19 as a 3rd kit for 2019/20, the only appearence of this kit was their visit to Newcastle United back in August. This is the least used 3rd in the League and its only use ended in a draw.
Wolverhampton Wanderers v Watford, 28th September 2019
The second “One Kit Wonder” from Watford was a variation of their away kit used with white socks which was seen in their defeat at Wolves.
West Ham United
Wolverhampton Wanderers v West Ham United, 4th December 2019
West Ham’s home kit from Umbro was a popular one with fans, when worn against Wolves it was paired with sky blue shorts and socks for a variation that still gives a strong West Ham feel, this did not prove sucessful on the pitch, with the game ending in defeat.
Newcastle United v West Ham United, 5th July 2020
This is the 3rd variation of West Ham’s home kit, this time combined with sky blue socks was used in the drawn game at Newcastle United.
Manchester United v West Ham United, 22nd July 2020
In the final away game of the season at Manchester United, West Ham used their away kit with change Sky Blue shorts, to give us again an alternative but classic West Ham look. The game ended in a draw.
Wolverhampton Wanderers
AFC Bournemouth v Wolverhampton Wanderers, 23rd November 2019
Wolves’ home kit in 2019/20 was paired with black shorts and socks, surprisingly an alternative of the kit was only used once this season with “old gold” socks in the victory at Bournemouth.
The 24 games in which our “One Kit Wonders” were worn, saw 6 wins, 10 draws and 8 defeats.
There are still the final ten games of the season to be played, so there may be some changes to this final list, Brighton in particular I can see using their home kit with blue socks in their game at Burnley, Sheffield United may use a different variation of their 3rd kit in their game at Southampton and at the moment Manchester City have only used their 2020/21 Home kit once in their victory at Watford but with their final game being at home at likely to wear this kit again in this game which is why I have not included in them in this overview.
Let me know what your favourite “One Kit Wonder” of the 2019/20 Premier League Season at https://twitter.com/kit_geek
UPDATED – MATCH DAY 38
On the final round of fixtures of season, we saw six teams launch their new home kits…. increasing our “One Kit Wonders” to 30…. All fixtures took place on 26th July.
Arsenal
Arsenal v Watford
Arsenal’s victory at relegated Watford give us the first view of the new Adidas 2020/21 Home kit, a darker shade of red than 19/20 version with the use of red socks as first choice!
Brighton & Hove Albion
Burnley v Brighton & Hove Albion
Brighton’s new home kit is a really interesting change from their traditional look, one the club has used in the past as points but something new and fresh for their 2020/21 Premier League campaign, its debut was victorious one with a 2-1 win at Burnley.
Leicester City
Leicester City v Manchester United
Leicester City revert to all blue for 20/21 season with this Adidas Convido 20 Template! Their 2-0 defeat cost the team and this kit a place in the Champions League next season.
Newcastle United
Newcastle United v Liverpool
Newcastle’s 2020/21 Kit sees the magpies use thinner stripes than 19/20, but the red numbers remain (something I love to see in a Newcastle Kit) and check out them socks…!!! Its first outing ended in 3-1 defeat to Champions Liverpool.
Southampton
Southampton v Sheffield United
Southampton are ditchng the stripes in 2020/21 in favour of a sash…. I love a sash, so this looks great in my eyes, Southampton ended the season in style beating high flying Sheffield United 3-1.
West Ham United
West Ham United v Aston Villa
West Ham are our final team introducing their new kit in 2019/20 season, a return to white shorts and socks paired with a more traditional looking shirt, the drawn game with Aston Villa saw the visitors stay up on the last day of the season.
So there we have it, the 30 “One Kit Wonders”, our final record sees 9 wins, 11 draws and 10 defeats!
Football Kit Geek - @Kit_Geek 