Arsenal will wear red socks tonight in their UEFA Champions League clash with FC Porto in the first leg of the last-16 tie football.london understands. Porto will be wearing their normal home kit consisting of their blue and white vertical stripes shirt, blue shorts and white socks.
It is due to the latter that Arsenal are indeed making the change. The Gunners have already had to do this during their Premier League clash with Everton who, besides the stripes of the shirt have a very similar colour scheme to the Portuguese side.
Arsenal won that day and have had a good record of playing in their changed kit. They secured an important draw with Sporting CP in the red socks during last season’s Europa League match although sadly couldn’t consolidate on it with a win at the Emirates Stadium.
Arsenal fans might remember when the side wore both red socks and red shorts in Naples when they faced Napoli. An Alexandre Lacazette free-kick secured a brilliant 1-0 away win, although away goals are no longer a rule in the current European competitions.
Mikel Arteta is yet to win a match in Portugal having drawn against the aforementioned Sporting CP and in a 2-2 stalemate with Benfica. Now in the Champions League, that record will hope to be ended which will also end the record of never having won against FC Porto in their own ground.
