Brighton thrash Aston Villa 4-0 at Amex as João Gomes is sent off
Brighton defeated Aston Villa 4-0 at the Amex Stadium in a Premier League match on 23 August 2026, with Jack Hinshelwood scoring twice and Maxim De Cuyper contributing a goal and forcing an own goal; Villa debutant João Gomes was sent off for violent conduct in the 40th minute.
Fabian Hürzeler’s Brighton began the season amid squad turnover, with the manager having said goodbye to Danny Welbeck, Jan Paul van Hecke and James Milner and missing Carlos Baleba and Yankuba Minteh, who were officially absent through injury and had proposed moves to Manchester United and Liverpool respectively; Kaoru Mitoma was also unavailable with a fitness issue. Aston Villa had lost Ezri Konsa, Morgan Rogers, Lucas Digne and Youri Tielemans over the summer, while Ollie Watkins was the subject of interest from Al Hilal and was not in the match-day squad; Brian Madjo and Tammy Abraham were injured, leaving Unai Emery without an available centre-forward and forcing him to use Emiliano Buendía in that role. Emiliano Martínez is also set to leave and Johan Manzambi remained not fit.
The match swung decisively in Brighton’s favour early on after an error by Pau Torres led to the opener: De Cuyper turned to open up a shot at an empty net, the ball rebounded off the near post and then deflected in off Victor Lindelöf for the first goal. Villa had an early chance when Emiliano Buendía was robbed by Yasin Ayari and Buendía’s low shot went past the far post with only Bart Verbruggen to beat, but Brighton’s pressure told when Villa’s back line faltered.
Brighton extended the lead through regular forward play, Rutter sprinting around Torres to cross low for De Cuyper to score the second after Olivier Boscagli initiated the move with a long ball. The visitors’ third arrived when Luka Vuskovic played a diagonal to De Cuyper, whose deep cross found Diego Gómez to head across for Hinshelwood to nod home, and the fourth came after Ayari dispossessed João Gomes on the edge of the area to tee up Hinshelwood for a straightforward finish.
João Gomes, who had been passed fit after an injury concern and was making his debut, became a focal point for Villa’s collapse: he was booked on nine minutes for demanding a yellow for Pascal Gross, escaped a second caution for a foul on Ayari in the 14th minute that led to a flare-up between the benches, and was dismissed by the referee after a video assistant referee review for kicking up and out at Georginio Rutter in the 40th minute when the score was 4-0. Rutter was described in the report as a rampaging presence throughout the first half.
Hürzeler set up Brighton with three centre-halves named in his lineup but deployed Olivier Boscagli at left-back to allow De Cuyper to play higher on the left flank; that selection was credited as one of the decisions that paid off. After the interval Brighton threatened further damage: Hürzeler’s substitute Costinha hit the post with his first touch, Charalampos Kostoulas put the rebound into the net only to be flagged offside, and Ibrahim Osman, another replacement, might have had a penalty after a John McGinn body check; Emery did not make any changes until the 74th minute.
Villa supporters had reminded those at kick-off of their Europa League triumph in May, but they were left stunned by Brighton’s four first-half goals and the knowledge the score could have been worse; Brighton did not significantly increase the margin after the break. When the final whistle blew Brighton’s celebrations filled the Amex Stadium while Emery left without a handshake and with visible worry lines, and there was, the report concluded, much for him to ponder.
