Brighton opened their Premier League campaign in spectacular fashion, scoring four goals in 23 minutes to thrash 10-man Aston Villa 4-0 at the Amex.

Aston Villa’s new Premier League campaign could hardly have started worse. Brighton & Hove Albion tore Unai Emery’s side apart 4-0, scoring four times in a devastating 23-minute spell that left the visitors stunned at the Amex.

Full-time. pic.twitter.com/NTzs3LA84C

— Aston Villa (@AstonVilla) August 23, 2026

Villa arrived with plenty of questions hanging over them after a turbulent summer in which several important players left the club. Those concerns quickly became reality as Brighton completely overwhelmed them in the opening half, with Maxim De Cuyper and Jack Hinshelwood at the heart of the destruction.

Brighton’s opener came through a huge slice of misfortune for Villa.  Pau Torres carelessly surrendered possession to De Cuyper, whose effort inside the box struck the post before bouncing off Victor Lindelof and into the net for an own goal.

That was only the beginning. Georginio Rutter then tore through the Villa defence, driving towards the byline before cutting the ball back for De Cuyper, who calmly guided his effort home. Brighton were suddenly playing with the freedom of a team in a training session, while Villa simply could not cope.

The Seagulls then delivered the knockout blows in spectacular fashion. De Cuyper’s delivery was headed back across goal by Diego Gomez, allowing Hinshelwood to rise and make it 3-0. Barely a minute later, Joao Gomes was dispossessed on the edge of his own box and Hinshelwood was presented with the easiest chance of his afternoon. He made no mistake.

Gomes’ nightmare debut then got even worse.  After a VAR review, the Villa midfielder was shown a straight red card for kicking out at Rutter, leaving Emery’s side with 10 men and facing an almost impossible task before half-time.

Aston Villa’s Joao Gomes is shown a straight red card and our visitors are down to ten players. 🔴

— Brighton & Hove Albion (@BHAFC) August 23, 2026

The damage was already done, but Brighton showed no mercy after the restart. Hürzeler’s players continued to dominate possession and picked their way through a Villa midfield that had offered almost no resistance. Yasin Ayari came close to adding a fifth, while Marco Bizot had to make an excellent save to deny Lewis Dunk.

Brighton eventually eased off as the game entered its final stages, although they thought they had added another when Charalampos Kostoulas followed up Joao Costinha’s effort after it struck the post. The goal was ruled out for offside, but it mattered little. Brighton had already made their statement.

The result gives Fabian Hürzeler his first victory over Villa after five attempts and extends Brighton’s unbeaten run in Premier League opening games to six matches. For Emery and Villa, however, the 4-0 humiliation raises serious questions about whether their summer departures have left the squad weaker than it was last season.