Brighton came flying out of the blocks in their Premier League opener, thrashing 10-man Aston Villa 4-0 at the American Express Stadium.
Brighton 4-0 Aston Villa: Hinshelwood double caps thumping win
Brighton made light work of their first Premier League game of the season, with a 4-0 rout over Aston Villa, who saw Joao Gomes sent off.
The Seagulls got all of their goals in the opening 31 minutes, with the floodgates opening after Victor Lindelof's early own goal.
Maxim De Cuyper and Jack Hinshelwood, who scored twice in just over a minute, both got on the scoresheet before Villa debutant Joao Gomes was also sent off before the break in a nightmare season-opener for Unai Emery's side.
Villa started fairly brightly, with Emiliano Buendia – playing as a make-shift striker in Ollie Watkins' absence – sending a low shot just across the face of goal.
But eight minutes in, Villa's defensive troubles started. Marco Bizot was dragged off his line by a loose backpass, and De Cuyper pounced, hitting the right post with his shot, and Lindelof inadvertently turned it over the line in his attempts to clear it.
De Cuyper got his goal just 10 minutes later, though. A long ball over the top gave Georginio Rutter space to run into, and the Dutchman tapped home from close range after it was pulled back to him.
Hinshelwood got his first on the half-hour mark, ghosting in behind Villa's defence to head in Diego Gomez's nod down under no pressure.
Just 79 seconds later, he had a second after Gomes had his pocket picked, Hinshelwood picked up the loose ball and slotted a composed finish past Bizot.
Villa's new midfielder's debut was then brought to an end 40 minutes in as he needlessly kicked out at Rutter after being bundled over, resulting in a red card after a VAR review.
Ian Maatsen hit the side netting in a rare Villa attack, but the visitors were lucky not to find themselves further behind 65 minutes in. Costinha struck the post with a long-range drive, and Charalampos Kostoulas turned in the rebound, only for the offside flag to cut celebrations short.
Seagulls soar to Premier League summit against sorry Villa
A lot has been made of Villa's business this transfer window, as they let Youri Tielemans, Ezri Konsa, Lucas Digne and Morgan Rogers go, while Watkins and Emiliano Martinez could follow them out the door.
Their disjointedness was ruthlessly exploited by Brighton, who generated 2.96 expected goals (xG) from open play in the first half, the most in the opening 45 minutes of a Premier League game (since 2021-22).
Villa are only the third team on record to trail by four goals at the break on MD1 of a Premier League season.
They are also just the second team in the competition's history to concede four times, receive a red card and score an own goal in the first half of a match after Southampton in February 2021 (lost 9-0 to Manchester United).
Gomes was the only new signing to start for the Villans, but it was a debut to forget for the Brazilian, who is just the second Villa player to be sent off in his Premier League debut.
Villa struggled to find any fluidity in attack, not helped by their lack of an out-and-out striker, and this is the first time they have played a full Premier League match without a shot on target since October 2022 against Newcastle United.
Brighton do sit top of the table as things stand on goal difference, and it was a stellar start to the campaign, with Fabian Hurzeler beating Villa for the first time since taking over at the Seagulls.
