When judging the best and worst designs of shirts for Premier League clubs each summer, we generally wait until we see the ones from Wigan since they’re usually some of the worst. But while Wigan has changed their shirt manufacturers again, we’ve run out of patience with the Latics and bring you my verdict on the best and worst Premier League shirt designs for the 2010-11 season.

We did a similar thing last summer when we picked the good, the bad and the ugly of Premier League shirt designs for the 2009-10 season.

Browse through the best and worst designs to see how your favorite club did:

Best Premier League jerseys of the 2010-11 season:

9. Blackburn Rovers home

The symmetry of the Blackburn Rovers jersey by Umbro is perfect. The blue and white halves are practically a mirror image, but the sponsor’s logo seems to keep a bond between the two halves. It’s another classy design by Umbro and one of the better Blackburn home jerseys in quite some time.

8. Everton home

If you removed the sponsor’s name, club crest and Le Coq Sportif logo from this shirt and asked soccer fans to figure out which club it belonged to, most would answer Everton. Rather than busy the shirt design with flashes of color or fancy trim, Le Coq Sportif stuck with the basics and created a classic Everton shirt.

7. Birmingham City home

When a club asks its supporters to select the design of their new jersey, it’s quite often a sound decision. Such was the case when Birmingham City presented several designs for supporters to choose from for their 2010-11 home shirt. The picture of the winning design (pictured above; which doesn’t do the shirt as much justice as it deserves) is bold, modern and like unmistakeable that it’s a Birmingham City shirt.

6. Liverpool third

The sharp contrast between the yellow trim and black shirt will definitely make Liverpool’s third jersey for the 2010-11 season stand out in a crowd. The classic Adidas style is simple, understated and perfect. Don’t change a thing.

5. Manchester City home

The unmistakeable color of Manchester City’s home shirt looks even better when it’s featured in a modern but clean design. The collar is different, but will hopefully look better in person.

4. Sunderland home

While many northeast Englanders may refuse to admit it, Sunderland and Newcastle United have a lot in common. But perhaps the biggest commonality is their similarity in design of soccer shirts. Newcastle United features the black and white stripes of Tyneside, while Sunderland embrace the red and white stripes of Wearside. But a big difference this season is how classy the Sunderland home shirt is while the Newcastle United one is too complicated for its own good. Designed by Umbro, Sunderland’s home jersey features clean lines, a traditional collar and a sponsor’s name that seems to fit well with everything. Bingo!

3. Everton away

You can say that one thing that Everton has is cajones. Very few clubs would come out of the closet not only with a pink shirt, but one that’s described as “lightning pink.” But fair play to Everton for deciding to go with something bold rather than the play-it-safe designs of fellow Premier League clubs. It’s bright. It’s bold. It’s in your face. And at the end of the day, it’s a well-designed shirt.

2. Tottenham Hotspur home

There’s something lovable about the new Tottenham jersey that gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling. At first I thought it was the retro design. But it suddenly dawned on me what it was this past weekend when I saw Spurs wearing the jersey for the first time in their friendly against San Jose Earthquakes. It was that the shirt reminds me of the North American Soccer League (NASL). While there is no NASL shirt that specifically mirrors the look of the original Tottenham design, the spirit of the NASL is very much alive in the above design. Die-hard Tottenham supporters may refute the suggestion, but there’s no doubt that Puma’s design is a breath of fresh air in a design year that has been quite stale.

1. Arsenal home

Arsenal and Nike made a smart choice in going back to the design of the Gunners shirt from the early 70s and reinventing it for 2010. The simplicity of the shirt is what wins you over and it has enough splashes of modernity with the logo, updated crest and sponsor’s name to not overdo it. The only criticism is that the red cuffs at the bottom of the sleeve look too big, but beggars can’t be choosers.

Worst Premier League jerseys of the 2010-11 season:

7. Tottenham away

The question that comes to my mind when I see a picture of Tottenham’s away jersey is, why? Why create a jersey that is so forgettable? Why not create a shirt that is as bold as the new home one but in sky blue instead? Instead, what we end up with is a shirt design that is plucked from the Puma template and updated with its baby blue colors. This shirt does nothing for me.

6. Liverpool away

Liverpool’s design of their away jersey wouldn’t be so bad if it was for the pinstripes. They detract from the overall design of the shirt and clouds the aesthetic quality of the shirt that lies beneath it. Remove the pinstripes and the rest of the design would be allowed to breath.

5. Aston Villa home

It’s rare for a club as classy as Aston Villa to unveil a shirt design that is lacking of, well, class. Uninspiring, bereft of ideas and unattractive, the shirt looks like it was cobbled together by some mad seamstresses at the last minute.

4. Fulham home

It’s bad enough that the design of the shirt looks like something an AYSO team would wear, but the shirt is made worse by the obnoxious tag line that appears under the sponsor’s name.

3. West Bromwich Albion home

A brilliant shirt design ruined by a horrible sponsor logo and phone number. While the shirt does everything right, the sponsorship completely wrecks it and cheapens it considerably.

2. Manchester United away

It’s not so bad that the away shirt was white, but Nike had to spoil it by adding a Flash Gordon-inspired lightning flash to separate the blue and red colors.

1. Chelsea away

This Halloween inspired shirt is no joke. Not only is it black with orange trim, but to make matters worse it features pinstripes on the front of the shirt. This is yet another poor design of a Chelsea away shirt.

So there you have it. Some of the best and worst shirt designs for Premier League clubs. There were many that weren’t featured in the rankings above. So many of them were blah, middle of the road designs that neither made me swoon or vomit. But let’s just hope that next season the quality of the creative designs improves.

To me, it’s interesting to note how Adidas, once a leader in shirt designs, has relinquished its superiority to create wonderful designs in the Premier League. Other than Liverpool, its designs for Premier League clubs have been very lacking of late.

I don’t believe this coming season will be the worst, but it’s time for clubs to think longer and harder about their away jerseys and, if they’re still not sure, ask their supporters for advice. Judging by many of the designs shown above in the worst section, their supporters weren’t polled.

What do you think? Which shirts are missing from the best and worst that you think should be included? And which rankings do you agree or disagree with? Click the comments link below to share your opinion.

For the largest selection of Premier League shirts for all 20 clubs, visit the EPL Talk Shop.

Aston Villa today launched their new home and away jerseys for the 2010-11 season.

The biggest talking point about the home jersey is that they have the same sponsor as Fulham, which means they also have the same annoying tag line displayed on the front of their shirts. Ugh!

As for Villa’s away jersey, it appears to be charcoal in color with claret and blue trim while the sponsor’s name is highlighted in red.

Here are photographs of Aston Villa’s home and away jerseys for 2010-11:

Share your feedback about the new Aston Villa football shirt designs in the comments section below.

For the largest selection of Premier League shirts for all 20 clubs, visit the EPL Talk Shop.

After all of the leaked photographs and speculation, Manchester United have officially unveiled their new home kit for the 2010-11 season.

From the early 1970s through 1982, Manchester United’s home jerseys had a white turn-down collar. And now it’s back as well as the rest of the shirt featuring a retro look-and-feel.

According to Manchester United, “Red, white and black is in the DNA of Manchester United and Nike has captured the spirit of the club through this season’s home kit. The new shirt leans towards a classic look, inspired by the 1970s, and features a collar for the first time since Nike became the team’s official kit supplier in 2002. And the chevron design that featured last season is evident in the engineered mesh pattern on the back of the shirt, with the V-shape echoed in the shoulder print detail and in the socks. Kit-wise, there are three options for the home games: red jersey, white shorts and black socks; red jersey, black shorts and white socks; or red jersey, white shorts and white socks depending on the opponents.”

Here are more images of the new Man United home jersey for the 2010-11 season:

Share your feedback about the new Man United football shirt design in the comments section below.

For the largest selection of Premier League shirts for all 20 clubs, visit the EPL Talk Shop.

The number of leaked photographs of Manchester United’s new home jersey for the 2010-11 season continues to increase. And now four new photos have been leaked by FootballShirts.com website.

In the new close-up pictures, we get to see more detail than ever before of Man United’s new home shirt. Features to note include:

• the “MUFC” letters in white, on the top back of the shirt,
• the detail in the white stripe that runs from the collar down the sleeves, and
• the chevron-shaped detail running down the back of the shirt.

Share your feedback about the new Manchester United football shirt design in the comments section below.

For the largest selection of Premier League shirts for all 20 clubs, visit the EPL Talk Shop.

To celebrate the beautiful game, Nike recently unveiled “Ball Man” – a giant 21 meter high footballer made from 5,500 skills balls and weighing more than 4.5 tons suspended from the atrium of the landmark Carlton Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Ball Man was developed using a 3-D image of an athlete and then aligning each of the 5,500 skills balls to create the giant spectacle that dominates the atrium space. Strung together by over 10 kilometers of cable wire, and suspended from the atrium’s ceiling, the installation took a full three weeks to put up, and incorporates a display of Nike’s latest production innovations.

How “Ball Man” Measures Up:

• 21 Meter high footballer made from 5,500 skills balls, weighing 4.75 tons
• Ball man weighs 4.75 tons
• 10 kilometers of cable wire string the balls together

The design process ensured that the balls can be taken down and distributed to the community after the exhibition closes in August. Football fans can also submit personal messages to their favorite players for a chance to appear on the Life Centre interactive LED screen from terminals based in the atrium.

Photographs of the Ball Man are after the jump:

A new photograph of Manchester United’s new home jersey for the 2010-11 season has been leaked on the Internet.

The image, which shows a design of Nike’s UK website, features pictures of Rio Ferdinand, Patrice Evra, Paul Scholes and Wayne Rooney wearing the new Manchester United home football jersey.

The retro design is sure to be a big hit among Manchester United supporters around the world. Just as Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur will be donning retro-inspired kits during the 2010-11 season, so too will Manchester United with retro collars and a retro design that’s reminiscent of Man United’s kits from the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Share your feedback about the new Manchester United football shirt design in the comments section below.

For the largest selection of Premier League shirts for all 20 clubs, visit the EPL Talk Shop.

After plenty of speculation and faked designs, Arsenal has officially revealed photographs of their new football kit for the 2010-11 season.

As revealed two days ago, Arsenal’s new home shirt is a classic retro design that is very reminiscent of the same shirt that Arsenal won the 1970-71 double in. The new Arsenal jersey features a white rounded collar, white sleeves, red cuffs and the famous red shirt.

Designed and manufactured by Nike, the new Arsenal home jersey features Dri-Fit fabric, which claims to be 13 per cent lighter than previous kits. Plus, similar to many of the new shirts from Nike, the shirt is made from recycled plastic bottles.

UPDATED: More images of the new Arsenal home jersey can be found after the jump.

What do you think of the new Arsenal kit? Judging by the above photographs, it looks like an instant classic to me and will definitely be a big hit worldwide. The classic design is a classic for a reason. It’s clean, simple, attractive and traditional. Hats off to Arsenal and Nike for a simple but beautiful design.

Share your feedback about the new Arsenal football shirt design in the comments section below.

For the largest selection of Premier League shirts for all 20 clubs, visit the EPL Talk Shop.

New photos of what appears to be Arsenal’s new home jersey for the 2010-11 season have been leaked on the Internet. There’s no confirmation that these are authentic or whether they’re knock-off designs. However, many experts believe these are either the real-deal or very close to the new design which will be released by Arsenal in the coming weeks.

Designed and manufactured by Nike, the new Arsenal shirts feature a classic Arsenal design that is reminiscent of the Gunners shirts from the early 70s when they were one of the best teams in the country. If this is in fact the new design, expect sales of the Arsenal shirt to flourish since it combines the best of the retro Gunners feel with a few modern touches such as the Arsenal name on the back of the shirt and the Nike logo on the front.

Here are more images of the new Arsenal home shirt:

What do you think of the shirt? Share your feedback about the new Arsenal football shirt design in the comments section below.

For the largest selection of Premier League shirts for all 20 clubs, visit the EPL Talk Shop.

Arsenal’s new away shirt for the 2010-11 season has been revealed. The new Arsenal away jersey is yellow with redcurrant trim and redcurrant pinstripes on the front of the shirt.

Designed and manufactured by Nike, Arsenal’s new away kit are a throwback to Arsenal’s history when they were known as Woolwich Arsenal. On the reverse of the club badge on the shirt, the motto reads “Victoria Concordia Crescit,” which translates as “Victory Through Harmony.”

The shorts for the new Arsenal away kit are redcurrant in color with yellow trim, while the socks are yellow with redcurrant trim.

The new Arsenal away jersey is quite a contrast from Arsenal’s current shirt which is blue. But what do you think of the new shirt? Do you love it or hate it? Share your opinion in the comments section below.

For the largest selection of Premier League shirts for all 20 clubs, visit the EPL Talk Shop.

New photographs of the Manchester United home jersey for the 2010-11 season have been leaked on the Internet.

Both images provide close-ups of what the new Man United home shirt looks like. The now familiar retro look continues to grow on me. It’s simple but beautiful. The traditional white collar is a nice touch as well as the white stripe down the arms. It’s a hundred times better than the new Manchester United away shirt.

Here’s another close-up photograph of the shirt:

What do you think of the new design? Leave your opinions in the comments section below.

For the largest selection of Premier League shirts for all 20 clubs, visit the EPL Talk Shop.

Source: Football Shirts