2021-2022 English Premier League Kit Rankings

2021-2022 English Premier League Kit Rankings

James Caughlin

A new Premier League season is just around the corner and that can only mean one thing… every club is rolling out its new kits for the following season.

Here at Neds we could do a Premier League season preview and tell you who is going to win the title (Manchester City) or who is going to finish stone dead last (Burnley), but there’s only one set of rankings that matter: which club has the best set of kits.

As we did in 2019 and 2020, the entire Neds staff (or near enough to) have gone through the 46 kits released (so far) and ranked each club’s effort ahead of Arsenal and Brentford getting the season underway on Saturday morning.

So without further ado, from worst to first, this is what we came up with.

20 – Chelsea

This is quite possibly the worst kit in Premier League history.

Worse than City’s pink and yellow third shirt, worse than United’s zebra kit last year.

It looks like they couldn’t decide between two patterns, was it meant to be blocks or waves?

Did they hold a vote on the preferred option and put the percentages on the kit?

On the plus side their away effort is much better with this seemingly German inspired yellow and black pattern.

It at least saves the club from a completely embarrassing effort this season.

19 – Burnley

Burnley’s kit creators have been massively let down by whoever signed off on those sleeves.

The face in that photo really says it all.

If only we could have seen the disappointment when they revealed this away kit

There’s not a lot of hope about Burnley this season and the away kit looks like someone signed off on the base design without actually going anything beyond selecting the colours.

Maybe they will have better kits when they are playing in the Championship next season.

18 – Newcastle

This kit has “Better never stops” on it but maybe it should have at least taken a break.

Just because you can go for a different look does not mean you should.

To steal a line from the self righteous mob on Twitter etc, “be better.”

On the plus side I love almost everything about this away shirt with the wavy lines.

It might screw up the picture on a few TV screens when the players get a close up but that’s just a minor gripe.

And frankly we will live with that.

17 – Crystal Palace

Palace might have won the “best kit reveal” contest for this production with their home shirt.

On the plus side there is a bit of variety compared to last season’s copy-paste efforts, but that’s about where the positives stop.

Their home one is fine, changing things up a bit from their vertical stripes and the yellow away shirt is the best of the bunch.

Unfortunately their grade is dragged down by one of the few confirmed third kits which is simply atrocious.

16 – Liverpool

Nike just have not been able to get a Liverpool home kit right since they made the switch.

It’s an improvement on last season’s mint trim red effort but still plenty of room for growth.

This away shirt on the other hand looks superb and gets high marks.

Unfortunately, the fan base will continue to be one of the most unbearable in all of sport parroting “6 times” and “19 titles” over and over in these shirts.

A bigger person would not let that impact the grade… but I’m not interested in being the bigger person.

15 – West Ham United

Why, why, why did any of these collar designs get approved?

It ruins the aesthetic and just doesn’t work.

Their entire range for the current season can be summed up with the simple phrase of “oh so close.”

The collar ruins three otherwise strong kits, especially on the third where it looks like the claret and blue strip accidentally got put on the front.

14 – Everton

The best thing you can say about Everton’s home kit is that it is different.

Unfortunately their home kit was excellent last season so this was always going to be a downgrade.

Were it not for the yellow trim it would have been graded a lot higher.

It’s a good thing Essendon is not as petty as another Aussie Rules club.

Were they as bitter as that other club, the sash would be considered to be a rip off of the Bombers home strip and an injunction would surely be filed in court.

Some Toffees fans may not appreciate any shade of red on one of their kits, but the sash looks good.

There’s not a lot to hate about this third kit either.

It’s got enough going on to not be boring (which is the worst thing you can say about a third kit) but it looks good enough that you’d be happy to wear it yourself.

13 – Watford

One of the proverbial yo-yo clubs is back in the top flight and you’ll be hard pressed to miss this yellow and black effort.

There’s not a lot to hate about it, but not a lot to get really excited about either.

As for their striking red away strip, it’s another stand out attempt at getting noticed

But like the home kit, there’s not a whole lot to hate about it.

12 – Brighton

We’ve already seen this kit in action in the Premier League with Brighton being one of the clubs that engaged in the befuddling practice of releasing the next season’s kit before the conclusion of the prior one.

It’s a fine effort, returning to a traditional design but it was always going to be a downgrade on last season’s winning effort.

As for the away kit, I like the pattern Nike have gone with, but the weird aqua-green colour has drawn mixed reviews in the office.

While still not confirmed by the club, the Premier League website has declared that last year’s yellow away kit will be recycled as the third one this season.

Not only is this a huge win for the fans who don’t feel like buying three new jerseys every season, it’s also an excellent shirt.

11 – Wolves

A change in manufacturer for Wolves results in a new kit design that looks decent on first inspection.

The further you look into it however, the more that strip on the side of the ribcage bugs me.

There’s not a lot to pick apart about this away jersey however.

Were I a Wolves fan this is definitely the one I would be buying this season.

10 – Aston Villa

Claret and blue is not exactly a flattering combination, even for the finely tuned athletes at Aston Villa.

The two tone bars over the body are what makes it and the players look happy to be there for the coming season.

Oh there’s a picture of Jack Grealish… this is awkward.

Let’s move on to the away strip.

Perhaps the best description of this kit is it is “fine”.

Not too ambitious but the colour scheme does limit their options.

9 – Arsenal

I’ll be honest, I really don’t like the navy shoulder stripes on this one.

The rest of the kit is fine and the hooped socks look excellent so it settles as a middling effort.

Unfortunately for them, Adidas set a really high bar with their initial efforts in 2019/2020 and just haven’t been able to replicate that.

Arsenal’s away effort is very nice and it brings up their overall score.

Sure some people consider the bright colours a bit much but they aren’t doing these rankings.

While the home and away strips are decent, this third kit is phenomenal.

Following on with the bruised banana pattern the club brought back in their 2019/2020 kit, this wave inspired effort is the best third kit released so far.

Now every Arsenal fan is hoping this placing is not a prediction of where their actual football will have them sitting come May.

8 – Manchester City

City’s insistence on reminding us about how they won the Premier League 10 years ago with 93:20 on the clock is fast approaching Liverpool fans repeatedly saying how many Champions League titles they have won on the irritating scale.

Yes it’s an anniversary but the guy responsible for that moment is in Barcelona (and injured again).

This design is an improvement on their previous two efforts but it’s far from their best one.

It just sits a bit too close to “training top” to cross over from average to good.

We will pause for a moment for the backroom staff at City who will have to wash this all white away kit.

I genuinely hope they wear this at every opportunity because it might be my favourite away combination this season.

Even if they go for the aqua shorts instead of the white.

7 – Tottenham

Spurs have gone with a back to basics look for 2021/2022 and while some may call it boring, it looks good.

What a shame this will be the only time Kane wears that shirt.

Spurs know how their home kit should look and they’ve stuck to that design to the letter.

For all of the complaints about a “boring” home shirt, their away one suffers from an excess of personality.

It’s not going to be for everyone but personally I think it’s great and as an Arsenal fan it really pains me to admit that.

6 – Brentford

The Bees will play in the Premier League for the first time in 2021/2022 and they will stick with this traditional club look.

While the candy stripes are nothing new, when kept simple they are one of the best designs going.

You’ll know Brentford are the away side with this bright ensemble for the away kit.

It’s clean, simple and best of all it looks good.

Let’s hope we’re doing a review of their follow up effort in 12 months.

5 – Leicester

In terms of home kits, this is easily one of the best in the Premier League.

It even earned the admiration of some other clubs as well.

In an unrelated award, the winner for the most obvious tweet of the preseason is Leicester.

Yes it is mint, it is also very nice as well.

Just please no maroon third kit this year.

4 – Southampton

The Saints might not be the most interesting team on the pitch but their kits this year are sublime.

In fact they are the perfect candidate for “this is the highest they will be on any Premier League table” joke.

Their away strip sticks with the winning formula but does lose points for the massive overlapping collar.

All black with red trim on the third strip is a huge winner.

They’ll at least look good in their likely relegation battle.

3 – Leeds

You have to make a major effort to screw up a Leeds kit and thankfully Adidas decided to go with a look most people will like.

Like pretty much every big band from the 80’s & 90’s, just play the hits.

As for the away kit, apparently Leeds REALLY liked Leicester’s home kit.

It’s basically a copy & paste effort but they picked a good design to replicate.

2 – Norwich

I’ve always had a bit of soft spot for Norwich and its home kit.

This is another one I’m very fond of with the green and yellow combination… possibly from the Tokyo spirit.

It’s always a bit of a risk following the same design for the home and away kits but Norwich have aced this year’s design.

There’s really not anything to even nitpick about this one, it’s awesome.

Norwich opted to change the design up for their third kit and have gone with this coral (faded salmon?) colour.

It’s another big winner for me and the collar is the only minor, pedantic grips that stops it taking out top spot.

1 – Manchester United

United is bringing back a classic look for their kits this season and the home and away combination is the best in the league.

This home shirt looks remarkable and is even better in long sleeve form.

Some non-United fans may even be considering buying this one.

Having lavished praise on the home kit there are not many more superlatives that can be put out for the away strip.

It’s just so damn good.