The curse of the blue kit struck again on Thursday, as Arsenal lost 2-1 to Östersunds FK, but why were the team wearing it at home in the first place?
When Arsenal welcomed their Swedish opponents to the Emirates for the second leg of their round of 32 tie, they were wearing their away colours, whilst Östersund turned up in their home strip.
The Swedes unfortunately only have two kits, a red one and a white one. As a result, Arsenal’s red and white home kit would’ve clashed with either option. Instead, they had the choice of either wearing the black third kit again, or the blue away kit.
Someone behind the scenes at the club probably thought this was the perfect opportunity to wear the blue kit and improve the team’s record in it, but that backfired badly.
At this point, Arsenal have lost seven matches in blue, drawn one and won one.
Here is the team’s record in full:
1. Liverpool 4-0 Arsenal – 27th August 2017
2. BATE Borisov 2-4 Arsenal – 28th September 2017
3. Watford 2-1 Arsenal – 14th October 2017
4. FC Köln 1-0 Arsenal – 23rd November 2017
5. Southampton 1-1 Arsenal – 10th December 2017
6. Nottingham Forest 4-2 Arsenal – 7th January 2018
7. AFC Bournemouth 2-1 Arsenal – 14th January 2018
8. Swansea City 3-1 Arsenal – 30th January 2018
9. Arsenal 1-2 Östersunds FK – 22nd February 2018
Fortunately, Arsenal will wear red on Sunday for the cup final, and they have a much better record in that kit.
Overall they’ve won 16, drawn six and lost just two in the strip. Hopefully they add another win at Wembley.