The official 2019/20 Premier League winter match ball will feature from Friday and is inspired by first hi-vis ball

With the clocks turning back in the UK this weekend and the onset of winter, Premier League players will have a new ball to help them in the shorter days.

The new official 2019/20 Premier League winter match ball, the Nike Hi-Vis Merlin, will feature from Friday night's meeting between Southampton and Leicester City.

Nike are celebrating 20 years in partnership with the Premier League and the new football is inspired by the competition's first hi-vis ball, the "Total 90 Aerow", which featured in the 2004/05 season.

It is also the first time in the competition's history that the winter ball will have a different design to the regular-season Merlin.

Ready for winter, the new Hi-Vis Merlin @premierleague match ball is here.

After being introduced for the first time 15 years ago, the Hi-Vis ball is coming back with a modern twist to a timeless classic.

⠀#premierleague #merlinball #nikefootball pic.twitter.com/LsIDNL1LuC — Nike Football (@nikefootball) October 1, 2019

In a nod to the iconic heritage of the Total 90 Aerow football, a "T90" logo features on one of the panels of the new Premier League Hi-Vis Merlin footballs.

This season's Hi-Vis Merlin adopts the same yellow-and-blue colourway as the Total Aerow 90 and, for Matchweek 10, will also feature the Premier League's "No Room For Racism" branding as part of the anti-discrimination campaign.

The Hi-Vis Merlin is available to buy on nike.com, where there will also be a limited number of Hi-Vis Total 90 footballs reissued.

The new Nike Hi-Vis Merlin is inspired by the iconic Total 90 Aerow football of 2004/05 (left), of which a limited number will be on sale from next month

These replicas will have the exact same detailing and specifications of the original, featuring 26-panel hand-stitched construction combined with texture flash casing, and will come in a commemorative box.

They will be available from 7 November on nike.com and will be numbered out of 600.

See: How the Nike Premier League ball has evolved