The Women’s Super League fixture between Chelsea and Arsenal was delayed by 30 minutes on Friday due to an issue with Arsenal’s socks.
Arsenal arrived at Stamford Bridge with white socks instead of red, but these were identified as a clash with Chelsea’s by match officials as the home side were also wearing white socks.
The visitors sourced and replaced the socks and returned for a second warm up in grey socks with blue trim, which appeared to be from Chelsea’s away kit.
The game had been scheduled to kick off at 7pm but kick off was pushed back to 7:30pm while the issue was resolved.
A Chelsea statement shortly after 7pm read: “Kick-off has been delayed for an indefinite period due to an Arsenal kit issue.”
International Football Association Board (IFAB) laws state: “The two teams must wear colours that distinguish them from each other and the match officials.”
Chelsea midfielder Erin Cuthbert admitted there was a degree of frustration with the enforced delay, but praised the way her side handled the situation.
“We were quite frustrated, we’d been waiting to play the game for a while, we were quite fired up,” she told Sky Sports.
“But I think we channelled it quite well. We came out and did a warm up because there’s always a risk and there’s always…
