4 Arsenal shirts every Gooner must own

Every self-respecting Gooner is a bit of a shirt collector.

Who can blame us, we’ve had some absolute belters.

When the conversation comes up about Arsenal shirts, invariably there are the same few that crop up that EVERY Gooner wants. Here are the four that come up most, and why they still sell out as retro Arsenal shirts today.

1. The bruised banana. The early-nineties yellow away shirt with the black zigzag was mocked at the time and is now the most copied Arsenal design ever made. If you wore it as a kid, you know. This kit had the potential to be a howler, but Ian Wright can make everything cool.

2. The Invincibles home. The 2003-04 shirt is the only one attached to an unbeaten league season. That fact does the selling on its own. The clean lines, the unforgettable memories made in that shirt? It’s a winner.

3. The redcurrant. For the last season at Highbury the club went back to its original dark red. One season, one ground, then gone. That colour, the collar, Henry’s Highbury sign-off? I’m getting chills.

4. Any nineties away with the JVC sponsor. The navy, the teal, the yellow. Pick one. They all say a particular era of north London. And every one evokes particular memories. The cup double? Cup-Winners Cup glory? That brilliant title-winning side of 1990-91? The Miracle at Anfield? Every shirt tells a story.

All four turn up on Shirt Archive, which stocks classic football shirts with the front and back photographed for every listing, in the full run of sizes. The list is longer than four, of course. That is the trouble with Arsenal shirts.