Guardiola outlines how Man City can chase down Arsenal in title race
Arsenal are wearing an all-white kit in their FA Cup clash with Oxford on Monday night as part of their No More Red anti-knife crime and youth violence campaign. The Premier League leaders will wear the white strip for the second-consecutive time in the competition to raise awareness of tragic knife crime statistics in the capital.
The initiative was first launched 12 months ago and is a joint campaign by Arsenal and their kit manufacturer, Adidas. It aims to highlight rising knife crime and young violence data as young lives continue to be shattered in London.
Arsenal claim that the number of teenagers killed as a result of violent youth crime dropped significantly in 2022 in comparison to 2021. However, there were 11,502 knife offences recorded in London between January 2022 and November 2022.
The Gunners say: “Both ourselves and Adidas remain steadfast in our long-term commitment to create safe spaces for young people to play sport in the capital, provide better access to trusted role models, and shine a light on talented individuals who are making a positive difference in their community.”
Arsenal will wear their all-white kit for their FA Cup clash with Oxford (Image: Getty)
No More Red has expanded in 2023 to invite members of the community to volunteer with one of Arsenal’s partner charities. The all-white kit is not available to fans to buy - instead, the charities will be given 10 limited edition shirts to present to volunteers.
Boss Mikel Arteta said of the campaign: "It's great. I think the support the club have given to the community and vice-versa, and the fact that we are constantly doing these kind of things is very important. It helps keep a lot of people - especially young people - safe in our community."
The Spaniard’s side face League One Oxford hoping to avoid another FA Cup upset. Wearing the all-white kit last year, Arsenal were knocked out by then-Championship outfit Nottingham Forest.
Arsenal were woeful as they lost 1-0 thanks to Lewis Grabban’s 83rd-minute goal. The North Londoners failed to have a shot on target from 10 attempts, with Eddie Nketiah missing a sitter late on.
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Arsenal lost in the all-white kit against Nottingham Forest (Image: Getty)
Nuno Tavares was infamously substituted midway through the first half. The left-back joined Marseille on loan during the summer but will find a first-team place difficult to find when he returns to the Emirates Stadium at the end of the season.
Asked if he was looking forward to facing another test against a team in a lower division, Arteta told journalists: "Very much. It is obviously a competition that is attached to the successful history of this club, so on Monday we’ll have a good start and a good test.
“It’s always tricky, I’ve played there (Oxford) a few times and have experienced very difficult matches, so it will be difficult.”