Brighton and Hove Albion opened their Premier League season by beating Aston Villa 4-0 at the Amex Stadium, where Victor Lindelöf's own goal, a Maxim De Cuyper finish and two Jack Hinshelwood goals inside two minutes had the game settled just after the half-hour, before João Gomes's first-half red card deepened Villa's misery. Brighton finished the day top of the table.
Villa arrived without a recognised centre-forward: Ollie Watkins was left out of the squad amid interest from Saudi club Al-Hilal, Brian Madjo and Tammy Abraham were injured, and Unai Emery pressed Emiliano Buendía into the role alongside Ross Barkley and debutant George Hemmings.
The rout began in the 7th minute, Pau Torres's misplaced attempted back-pass letting De Cuyper in to shoot, the ball rebounding off the post and in off Lindelöf. De Cuyper doubled the lead in the 17th, tapping in from close range after Georginio Rutter had tricked his way past Torres and delivered a low cross. Hinshelwood then struck twice, heading in in the 29th minute after Diego Gómez nodded a De Cuyper cross back across goal, and pouncing in the 30th after Gomes was dispossessed by Yasin Ayari on the edge of his own box.
Gomes's afternoon reached its low point in the 39th minute. Already booked for dissent, the Brazilian was shown a straight red card following a VAR review for kicking out at Rutter after losing possession, leaving Villa a man light for the rest of the match.