Manchester City to wear special sponsor jersey against Arsenal for their first Premier League game back on Wednesday night to promote the launch of a charity initiative.

Pep Guardiola’s side will resume their season as they welcome Mikel Arteta back to the Etihad Stadium for the first time since the Spaniard made the move to Arsenal in December.

The FA Cup holders will wear Cityzens Giving For Recovery on their shirts instead of their usual sponsors after parent group City Football Group launched a 12-month recovery campaign to help communities get back on their feet in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

And Etihad Airways, a group partner, has allowed their name on the front of City’s shirt to be replaced with the campaign logo for the Arsenal game.

Ferran Soriano, chief executive of City Football Group, said: “Frontline workers around the world have heroically responded to the immediate threat of COVID-19. We have been privileged to play our own small part in helping to address that immediate threat.

“Now is the time for us to look forward, committing to meeting our responsibility to help our communities recover.

“This multi-faceted campaign is going to use our expertise, our facilities, our platform and our voice to help people and our communities to heal and recover. And we will do it together. We are calling on our global community of Cityzens to help us to give and to help as many people as we can to recover.”

All Premier League clubs have been given the green light to replace player names with the slogan Black Lives Matter for the first round of games in support of the movement, as well as the logo being placed onto shirt next to one supporting the NHS and key workers.

source:- fcnaija