Arsenal warmed up in white socks before they were told they had to change (Getty Images)
The kick-off to Chelsea and Arsenal’s clash in the Women’s Super League title race was delayed by 30 minutes due to a kit clash.
The 7pm start was delayed because Arsenal, the away team, had to change into black socks bought from the Chelsea club shop at Stamford Bridge.
The Gunners had warmed up in white socks, but they clashed with Chelsea’s home kit.
The black socks Arsenal changed into 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 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.
Arsenal did not have their own change of socks, so had to wear Chelsea away socks.
Former Arsenal striker Ian Wright posted on Twitter/X during the delay: “Embarrassing this. Ridiculous.”
Arsenal had to change into Chelsea away socks to avoid a clash (Action Images via Reuters)
Chelsea warmed up in white socks, with Arsenal having to change (The FA via Getty Images)
Arsenal’s men’s team wore red socks at Stamford Bridge in October (Getty Images)
The London rivals were scheduled to kick-off at 7pm on Friday night but an announcement said that the start of the game was delayed to 7:30pm.
It was a crucial match in the season, with a crowd of over 30,000 buying tickets for the potential WSL title decider.
Chelsea lead Arsenal by three points in the WSL title race, with Manchester City second in the table and behind Chelsea only on goal difference.
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.
