Brighton ran riot in the first half to crush Aston Villa 4-0 at the Amex Stadium. Goals from Maxim De Cuyper, an own goal via Victor Lindelöf, and a quickfire double from Jack Hinshelwood sealed the contest inside 31 minutes. Villa’s misery was compounded when João Gomes was sent off before halftime.
Villa started brightly with Emiliano Buendía testing Bart Verbruggen early, but Brighton capitalised on defensive errors to take control. Pau Torres’ misplaced pass led to De Cuyper’s opener via Lindelöf’s deflection.
De Cuyper then converted Georginio Rutter’s cross before Hinshelwood scored twice in quick succession to put Brighton 4-0 up. Gomes’ reckless kick at Rutter earned him a straight red card after VAR review, capping a disastrous half for Villa.
The second half saw Brighton ease off, while Villa tried to limit further damage. For Unai Emery, the defeat raises serious questions after a summer of departures and uncertainty.
But after a turbulent summer at Villa Park, which has seen key players Morgan Rogers, Youri Tielemans, Ezri Konsa and Lucas Digne leave the club, this is a damaging opening defeat for Villa, leaving plenty of questions for Emery to answer with just over a week left of the summer transfer window.
softfootball player ratings:
Player Ratings
Brighton
| Player | Rating |
|---|---|
| Bart Verbruggen | 6.8 |
| Mats Wieffer | 6.8 |
| Luka Vuskovic | 7.5 |
| Olivier Boscagli | 7.3 |
| Lewis Dunk | 6.9 |
| Yasin Ayari | 6.7 |
| Pascal Groß | 6.9 |
| Jack Hinshelwood | 9.2 (2 Goals) |
| Diego Gómez | 7.8 |
| Maxim De Cuyper | 8.6 (Goal + Assist) |
| Georginio Rutter | 7.7 |
Aston Villa
| Player | Rating |
|---|---|
| Marco Bizot | 5.8 |
| Matty Cash | 5.6 |
| Victor Lindelöf | 4.8 (Own Goal) |
| Pau Torres | 3.9 |
| Ian Maatsen | 5.2 |
| Ross Barkley | 5.0 |
| Boubacar Kamara | 5.4 |
| João Gomes | 4.0 (Red Card) |
| John McGinn | 5.1 |
| George Lawrence Hemmings | 5.3 |
| Emiliano Buendía | 5.0 |
Match Statistics
| Statistic | Aston Villa | Brighton |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 0 | 4 |
| Shots | 17 | 6 |
| Shots on Target | 6 | 0 |
| Possession | 72% | 28% |
| Passes | 593 | 242 |
| Pass Accuracy | 94% | 77% |
| Fouls | 12 | 10 |
| Yellow Cards | 2 | 3 |
| Red Cards | 1 | 0 |
| Offsides | 6 | 2 |
| Corners | 5 | 2 |
