Chelsea have unveiled the team’s new 2011/12 home shirt, which has been inspired by past kits from the early ’80s.

Chelsea have unveiled their 2011-12 home kit
Chelsea have unveiled their 2011-12 home kit

The Adidas kit features a shadow striped design on the front panel in a move away from the recent solid block of colour the Stamford Bridge club have been sporting.

As well as the new striped shadow design a white colour block has been added to the sleeves and shorts.

The addition of the white panels means the world-famous three stripe Adidas logo will appear in blue for the first time on a Chelsea home strip.

Petr Cech will play the 2011/12 season in an all-white kit, which is a significant change from his current luminous range of strips.

Chelsea have stolen a march on their Premier League rivals with the release of the new kit before the end of the season but it will not be available for fans to buy until May 12th.

The club are currently preparing for the most important game of their season so far, the second leg of the Champions League quarter-final at Old Trafford, which represents their last chance for silverware this season.

Sunderland have also released their new strip for the 2011/12 season, complete with Premier League badges, which may need to be removed if their slide down the Premier League table continues.