Newcastle top, Watford bottom and Liverpool's 'Dream Team' effort: Premier League kits rated

Find out who is top of the Premier League in the shirt stakes and which kit should be heading towards relegation

<p>20th place - Watford</p> In nature, they say, avoid things that are yellow and black. When it is this bold, heed that advice. The away kit is , all green and doesn't appeal either. In the picture above I had to check it wasn't goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes going on a mazy run. A disastrous combination.

<p>19th place - Arsenal</p> I'm breaking my rule already, but let's talk about their third strip. My guess is it will feature more than their navy away kit anyway. I enjoyed the spearmint green kit launch in Singapore. It made Hector Bellerin and the gang look like they were celebrating their efforts as ballboys an ATP tennis event. The home strip has needless red bands around the arms.

<p>18th place - Everton</p> While their home kit is pretty much standard fare, the Toffees are perennial fashion troublemakers when it comes to their away and third strips. They played it safe last season with a white alternative, but have once again gone to the neon well to flash a pink trim over black. I reckon they will be chief culprits in using their third kit more often than anyone else in the division.

<p>17th place - Liverpool</p> Nothing wrong with their home kit, all red with sedate white where need. But the away kit is a sight to behold. Haha. Purple. It's a shame really, the producers for Sky's early-2000s football drama Dream Team usually had to dub their purple Harchester United kit over an always struggling Leicester City for the 'live action' shots.

<p>16th place - Bournemouth;</p> Once upon a time in the 90s a home shirt lasted a good two seasons. The old guard then In a tricky game of spot the difference, the Cherries have added a gold trim around the collar and the sleeves are now all black. The away kit is fair.

<p>15th place - Manchester United</p> The classic United kit is Red shirts, whites shorts, black socks. The red socks is the crime here and I see where it went wrong. Really stylish shirts-to-shorts colour blending is prevalent at the minute, but it's caused an unsightly knock-on effect. It's easy to blame Adidas, but even easier to pin the blame on Jose Mourinho, so I'll do that. The away kit(s) is/are probably the best change strips United have been supplied for a good 10 years.

<p>14th place - Cardiff City</p> It's a shame we haven't formatted emojis in the caption field of our website, because this entry would simply be :| I don't think strongly for or against it. The home kit is workmanlike, I guess. The away kit is better.

<p>13th place - Tottenham Hotspur</p> Spurs are another club employing the shirts-to-shorts colour blend. They should be in white socks, but the home kit is not a disaster. The away kit is fine, but the shorts look like they've been in the wash too much and have faded. If they leaked image is true, Spurs's electric-green third kit with a hard-to-make-out printed map of North London will push them into the drop zone.

<p>12th place - West Ham United</p> It's not like West Ham not to make a scene, but this season's offerings are understated and, I'll whisper it, sensible. Not sure what to make of the shirt not having claret sleeves, the Hammers risk hitting the Northampton Town end of 'England's classic Claret kits' scale. The away kit is sensible.

<p>11th place - Burnley</p> Ah, it took me a while, but Burnley have had a sponsor change. and to ensure their fans are getting bang for their buck they have switched their sky blue shorts and socks for white. The white away kit is a better choice than the all sky blue strip from last season.

<p>10th place - Wolverhampton Wanderers</p> A sight for sore eyes. The famous old gold and black is back in the top flight and looks resplendent. The all white away kit keeps with tradition but I doubt they will get much mileage from it this season. Hopefully when they visit Watford at Vicarage Road in April, the Fashion Police will have caught up with the Hornets and slapped a ban on them using the home strip.

<p>9th place - Fulham</p> It's hard to be prickly with a friendly club like Fulham, so the closest I will come to giving a barbed comment is they seem to be using relegated Swansea City's kits from last season. The Fulham away kit is one of my three favourite change strips this season.

<p>8th place - Huddersfield Town</p> The Yorkshire club's blue and white striped home strip is still catchy, but it feels the Terriers have taken a step back this season with all their kits. Umbro has replaced Puma and given them the exact red and black striped shirt Bournemouth will be wearing.

<p>7th place - Chelsea</p> When I first got into football in the early 90s, Chelsea were the world's worst for garish away kits. Take a look on Google. Once they even turned up at Coventry City with their clashing home kit expecting some sort of small mercy. They were forced to wear Coventry's chequerboard away kit. It was a time to be alive. In 2018, they have mastered both home and away kit and it looks like they don't need a third.

<p>6th place - Manchester City</p> Not much tweaking with their home shirt at the Etihad this season. The away kit is understated genius. If you remember the neon yellow and black striped strip they wore during their nadir in 1998-99, then you may see the inspiration to this season's design. It's almost training shirt-good.

<p>5th place - Southampton</p> Classic red and white stripes with black shorts and socks from under armour. If I'm nitpicking it could use a bit more white in the shorts and socks. The away kit - yellow with a blue shoulders and sleeves is also smart. We're finding it hard to work out when they will need to use their third shirt which is, and I'm not joking, red with red stripes.

<p>4th place - Brighton & Hove Albion</p> This is a bit of a shock. On first glance Brighton's home and away shirts look nothing out of the ordinary, I had the combination ranked around Cardiff. Then it dawned on me. Grass green away shirts are a bit of a rarity in English football. So it gets marks for being a bit Bundesliga. It's a fine line not looking like a team of goalkeepers, but Brighton may have pulled it off.

<p>3rd place - Crystal Palace</p> Puma has done a lovely job with Palace's kits this season. Whether you think the away strip should be the home kit is a debate for another time.

<p>2nd place - Leicester City</p> The Midlands club has scored a hat-trick in the fashion stakes Home kit. Solid. Away kit. Splendid. Third change kit (breaking the rule here). Out of this world and a great choice getting England defender Harry Maguire to sport it on Twitter - shinpads and all.

<p>1st place - Newcastle United</p> I never realised I adored almost everything about Newcastle United in the mid-90s. And like catching an unexpected whiff of perfume once worn by a loved one, the unveiling of their 95-96 season inspired away strip brought memories of Les Ferdinand, David Ginola and Philippe Albert flooding back. We can debate whether Newcastle's home shorts should be white or black until we're blue in the face, but that doesn't take the shine off a pleasant throwback.

In the age of 4K television we'll be happy to see some clubs on our screens more than others. And we're not talking about uninspiring hoofball tactics.

The Premier League season is back and looking good on the big screens in cafes in Dubai or Abu Dhabi could earn your club a new fan or two.

Here's our guide to the best and worst combined home and away shirts for the 2018-19 season, starting with the worst and working its way to the cream of the crop for the coming campaign.

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Read more:

Premier League 2018/19 preview: Team-by-team guide and predictions

Premier League 2018/19 predictions: Are Liverpool the biggest threat to Manchester City's title defence?

Premier League transfer window: All the new signings for 2018/19 season

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