Aston Villa suffered one of the most calamitous opening halves in Premier League memory as Brighton and Hove Albion ran riot at the Amex Stadium, winning 4-0 to inflict a bruising start to the new season on Unai Emery's depleted squad.

Victor Lindelöf's 8th-minute own goal set the tone, and Brighton never looked back. Maxim De Cuyper latched onto a poor pass from Pau Torres and steered his shot in off the post and Lindelöf to hand the hosts an early advantage. De Cuyper then doubled his contribution in the 18th minute, converting a Georginio Rutter cross to make it 2-0.

If those two goals were damaging, what followed was devastating. Jack Hinshelwood headed home in the 30th minute, then struck again just 80 seconds later to give Brighton a 4-0 lead before the half-hour mark had even passed.

Gomes sent off to cap a nightmare 45 minutes

Villa's miserable afternoon was compounded five minutes before the interval when new signing Joao Gomes — already on a yellow card — was dismissed following a VAR review for kicking out at Rutter. It was an inauspicious league debut for the midfielder and left Villa to begin the second half a goal and a man down.

Emery's side managed to avoid further embarrassment after the break, keeping a clean sheet in the second half, but the damage had long been done.

A turbulent summer catches up with Villa

The result arrives at the end of a difficult pre-season for Villa, who lost key players Morgan Rogers, Youri Tielemans, Ezri Konsa, and Lucas Digne during the summer transfer window. Ollie Watkins was absent from the squad entirely amid reported interest from Saudi club Al Hilal, leaving Villa without a recognised centre forward.

Emi Buendia showed brief promise in the opening minutes, threatening three times inside the first 10 minutes as Villa's most advanced attacker. But those early flickers of intent were extinguished entirely as Brighton's relentless first-half performance took hold.