Arsenal

Away

The Gunners have opted for a retro-inspired kit for their away strip this season, swapping out their regular badge for a simple cannon design. The crest looks great, and I don’t hate the pastel yellow colour. They retain shirt sponsor Emirates, a perennial feature of Arsenal kits since 2004, as well as the controversial Visit Rwanda branding on the sleeve. A solid kit, which Arsenal fans will hope accompanies a more solid performance than last season’s disappointing 8th place finish.

Grade: B

Brighton

Home

I was a massive fan of Brighton’s home kit last term, the pronounced white collar coupled with an overwhelmingly navy strip, albeit with white pinstripes. This year, the kit designers have done another stellar, if simple, job with the home strip. Reverting from the thin white stripes of last year, 2021’s kit is a more traditional Brighton kit, with large white and blue stripes. The yellow Nike swoosh stands out nicely, and the American Express sponsor isn’t too obnoxious. Football fans are often split over strips that resemble V-necks, but I personally think it looks good in this case.

Grade: B+

Chelsea

Home

Chelsea’s recent history of ugly kits (last year’s third strip, for example) continues with this fairly disastrous attempt at a home strip. The blue and yellow works fairly well, and has looked great on Chelsea kits in the past (2005/06, for example). The overriding issue with this kit is the bizarre patterns, zig-zags overlapping with a chessboard design on the shoulder. It seems as if Chelsea are trying to force a ‘cult’ kit (think Mexico ’98 or Arsenal ’93) by using patterning on the shirt, but the overall effect misses the mark by some way.

Grade: C-

Crystal Palace

Away

This might be a divisive opinion, but I quite like this kit. The yellow is a bit of a sight for sore eyes, but the red and blue stripe on one side looks good, and the sponsor integrates well with the kit. The blue trim on the sleeves completes the look, although I do wish the yellow was a bit less bright.

Grade: B

Everton

Home

I’ve always had a soft spot for Hummel football shirts, but in my mind the Everton home kit just misses the mark. I can’t quite put my finger on why, but it looks to me like a training kit. The blue is a lovely shade, but the odd line dividing the shirt leaves a lot to be desired. The pattern is known as ‘dazzle’, which has strong links to Merseyside, as it was used to paint naval ships during the First World War as a method of camouflage. The zebra crossing-esque patterning on the shoulders is a strange choice, but the yellow trim on the sleeves looks good.

Grade: B-

Away

This is more like it! Mainly black with an orange sash across the chest, this is a bold kit that looks far less like a training strip than the home kit. I do wish the sash wasn’t interrupted by the sponsor though.

Grade: B+

Leicester

Home

It’s hard to go wrong with a navy blue kit in my opinion, and the texturing on Leicester’s new kit is a thing of beauty. The white and gold v-neck collar works well, and the same colours are mirrored on the sleeve trim. The sponsor is large but inoffensive, and overall this is a pretty nice strip. Check out James Maddison’s tattoos though, I spotted the snowman from Frozen and some poker chips… Questionable to say the least.

Grade: B+

Liverpool

Home

Not a fan. Orange and red on a football kit should be reserved solely to AS Roma, for starters. The material also leaves some questions to be answered; if you zoom in on the image, there’s a lot of holes in it, presumably some incarnation of ‘breathable technology’. It doesn’t look great though. A let down, if I’m honest.

Grade: B-

Away

It’s a shame that they’ve used the same material for this one, because otherwise it’s a thing of beauty. The body of the kit is cream, which goes well with the green collar and trim. As a football kit puritan, a classic collar makes me very happy, and it combines modern colour schemes with a more traditional template.

Grade: A-

Newcastle

Home

Might be the worst one yet. Newcastle United kits need black and white stripes, in my opinion, and this is more of a block colour strip. The collar screams 2011 Topman t-shirts, and the sponsor jumps out at you more than anything else. See if you can spot the massive number four on the front of the shirt (clue: it’s not very hard).

Grade: D

Norwich

Home

It’s hard to design a nice kit where the primary colours are bright yellow and green, but this isn’t the worst Norwich kit I’ve seen. The Lotus sponsor is clean, and the detailing on the sleeves is eye-catching without being over the top. As far as Norwich kits go, very solid.

Grade: B

Southampton

Away

My pick of the bunch. Hummel again, but more tasteful than both Everton kits. The black and orange work very well together, and I love the style of collar they’ve used. Even more impressive is the detailing, with football pitches stitched into the fabric of the strip. My only qualm is the sponsor, the logo of which is quite ugly. Regardless, a beautiful kit in my eyes.

Grade: A

Tottenham

Home

I’m honestly not sure what I can write about this kit. It’s white, it’s made by Nike and it’s a Tottenham kit. Very boring. Solid, but boring.

Grade: B