2009 v Everton, FA Cup

After losing a coin toss to Everton to decide who would wear blue for the FA Cup final in 2009, Chelsea fans were expecting Guus Hiddink’s side to use the black away strip worn at Goodison Park in the Premier League earlier that season. However, we opted instead for our shiny, all-yellow third kit for a memorable outing at Wembley.

The Toffees may have registered the fastest-ever goal in an FA Cup final when Louis Saha netted after 25 seconds but Chelsea rallied superbly, levelling through a Didier Drogba header before Frank Lampard fired us ahead with a left-footed screamer 18 minutes from time.

Florent Malouda should have added a third as the officials failed to spot that his stinging effort had crossed the goal-line after coming off the underside of the crossbar but the yellow-clad Blues were not to be denied as we won 2-1 to lift the Cup for the fifth time.

2012 v Barcelona, Champions League

While Chelsea have often worn white as a change colour, our 2011/12 third kit was somewhat unorthodox as it featured dark navy and yellow bands in the upper chest area. It was only used in three matches but is immortalised in club legend for its final outing at the Camp Nou in April 2012.

Down to 10 men against one of the best club sides ever assembled, the Blues could have waved the white flag when Andres Iniesta gave Barca the aggregate lead late in the first half.

But we associate that white kit instead with a steely display of defiance and resilience as we edged back in front on away goals through a stunning Ramires lob, repelled everything the hosts could throw at us in an epic defensive performance and then watched Fernando Torres run clear right at the end to round Victor Valdes and seal our place in the Champions League final.

2013 v Aston Villa, Premier League

Chelsea experienced some mixed results in our third kit in 2012/13 but the Transformer-like black and yellow outfit has a special place in club history after the events of our final away match of the Premier League campaign at Villa Park.

While the points were crucial as we tried to stay ahead of Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur in the race for Champions League spots, the match took a significant and historical turn when Frank Lampard levelled the score with a fizzing shot just after the hour to match Bobby Tambling’s club record of 202 goals

It set the stage for a grandstand finish as Eden Hazard squared the ball for Super Frank to slam in the winner two minutes from time as he set a new Chelsea goalscoring landmark and virtually secured our place in Europe’s elite competition once again.

2020 v Aston Villa, Premier League

Chelsea wore another black third kit when we came from behind for another 2-1 victory at Villa Park in the 2019/20 season but the result on that day paled in significance to the events which surrounded it.

After the season had been halted for over three months by the Covid-19 pandemic, the match offered the first tentative steps towards a return to football but there was an unusual setting for our first-ever Premier League match in June, with no spectators watching from the stands and a number of protocols in place to ensure the health and safety of everyone present.

Wearing shirts with a blue heart-shaped badge to show gratitude towards the NHS and the names of players replaced by wording to support the Black Lives Matter anti-racism movement, the Blues scored twice in three minutes in the second half through Christian Pulisic and Olivier Giroud to secure the points on a somewhat eerie but poignant and welcome occasion.

2020 v Sevilla, Champions League

Last season’s third kit combination of orangey red and dark blue may have divided opinion among Chelsea fans but, after we made a poor start in its first outing at West Bromwich Albion, the Air Max 180-inspired shirt did bring the Blues some good fortune.

Chelsea came from three goals down at half-time to draw 3-3 at the Hawthorns and went on to win the other four games in which we wore the kit, including a crucial 2-0 win over Porto in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium in Seville last April.

However, our most significant game in that kit had come five months earlier at the same venue when we trounced Sevilla 4-0 on a record-breaking night for Olivier Giroud as he became the first Chelsea player to score four goals in a Champions League game and the oldest, at 34 years and 63 days, to score a hat-trick in the competition.