Arsenal have a chance to open up a gap at the top of their Champions League group with victory over Basel at the Emirates Stadium tonight, but they won’t be wearing their famous red kit for the game.
The Gunners will wear yellow for the visit of the Swiss champions, and it’s not a matter of choice – Uefa have ordered Arsène Wenger’s team to go with their change strip because of an unlikely double colour clash.
Arsenal’s red kit clashes with Basel’s home jersey – which is red, blue and black.
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But the white sleeves on the Gunners shirt also means it clashes with Basel’s reverse strip, which is all white.
6 games, 6 wins, 21 goals. 👊🏻💥 pic.twitter.com/PnsRmOJPcz
— FC Basel 1893 🇬🇧 (@FC_Basel_en) August 28, 2016
As Arsenal reveal on their official club site, Basel have no third kit, so yellow it is.
It is not the first time Arsenal will have worn their away kit for a home game, with fixtures in the 1998/99 season – including the home meeting with Lens – seeing them do the same.
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Arsenal drew 1-1 with Paris Saint-Germain in their first group stage game, while Basel recorded the same scoreline at home to Ludogorets, meaning all four teams in Group A have identical records.
Wednesday’s match will represent the first ever competitve meeting between the clubs, though the Swiss side have taken on Premier League teams Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham in recent years.
