Brighton kicked off their new Premier League campaign in emphatic fashion by thrashing Europa League winners Aston Villa 4-0 at Amex Stadium.

It only took the Seagulls eight minutes to take the lead as Maxim de Cuyper forced an own goal out of Victor Lindelof before the Belgian added his name to the scoresheet 10 minutes later with an easy finish to make it 2-0.

Villa crumbled as Jack Hinshelwood then struck two goals in as many minutes to put Brighton 4-0 up, before the visitors were reduced to 10 men following a red card for Joao Gomes, who lasted only 40 minutes on a nightmare debut.

Unai Emery’s side capitulated completely after a promising start.

Emiliano Buendia almost gave the visitors the lead inside five minutes after he stole possession in the final third but missed the bottom corner by inches.

Brighton, however, capitalised on the first chance that came their way as Villa defender Pau Torres’ blind pass into his own box found De Cuyper, whose shot struck the post before going in off Lindelof.

Georginio Rutter then made a well-timed run to get behind the Villa defence and cut back for De Cuyper to turn home from six yards to double his side’s lead.

Fabian Hurzeler’s side were 3-0 up at the half-hour mark as De Cuyper’s cross from the left was knocked back across the goal by Diego Gomez for Hinshelwood to tap in.

Only a minute later, Yasin Ayari robbed Gomes of possession in the Villa box and Hinshelwood made no mistake to grab his second goal of the game.

Villa’s afternoon went from bad to worse before the eventful half came to a close as Joao Gomes, already on a yellow card, kicked out at Rutter and received a straight red following a video assistant referee (VAR) review.

Though Villa managed to keep Brighton at bay in the second half, the damage had long been done to Emery’s side.

“Silence,” said Emery when asked pre-match about Ollie Watkins’ absence from the Villa squad.

But the noise surrounding the club is only bound to grow louder after their horror show in Brighton.

Watkins looks likely to be the latest to leave Villa this summer with the England striker linked with a move to Saudi Arabia’s Al-Hilal.

Goalkeeper Emi Martinez’s future also remain uncertain following a failed move to Juventus and the arrival of Japan’s Zion Suzuki.

It lays bare the task Emery has to replicate last season’s success, having also lost Youri Tielemans, Morgan Rogers, Lucas Digne and Ezri Konsa this summer – all core members of the group.

Even then, the manner of the defeat in the league opener hints Emery’s problems this season could run far deeper.

Gomes recovered from an injury in time to start the opener but the midfielder, signed from Wolves for £38m, put in a display that could contend for one of the worst debuts.

The Brazilian was cautioned for waving an imaginary card at the referee, gave away the ball in the box for Brighton’s fourth goal and was then sent off for kicking out at Rutter.

After securing fourth place in the Premier League and then winning the Europa League last season, Villa were always going to face a challenge to match those heights.

But this opening display will raise questions whether Emery’s side could be heading in the opposite direction.

Brighton, meanwhile, could not have asked for a better start to the new season.

Like Villa, they have also lost key personnel during the transfer window in defender Jan Paul van Hecke and season striker Danny Welbeck, with midfielder Carlos Baleba likely to join them in leaving soon.

Yet, Hurzeler was still able to field a side that looked far closer to Brighton’s first-choice line-up than the one Emery could.

Club-record signing Luka Vuskovic started at centre-back on his Premier League debut and produced an assured display while goals from De Cuyper and Hinshelwood would be a welcome sight as they look to replace Welbeck’s output.

Without a recognised striker, Rutter started up front and, despite not getting on the scoresheet, was central during Brighton’s attacking spree in the first half.

Hurzeler and his players will have little time to savour their start as attention will turn to the Conference League play-off second leg against Norway’s Tromso on Thursday, 27 August (19:30 BST), after a goalless draw last week.

Manchester City scored two late goals to earn Enzo Maresca a win in his first Premier League game in charge – and deny Marco Rose the perfect start as Bournemouth boss.

The Cherries took the first-half lead through Marcus Tavernier, who was left in loads of space to slam in after Evanilson’s incisive low ball across the area.

Erling Haaland, usually at his most prolific in August, missed a host of chances for City as they looked set for a frustrating afternoon.

But Marc Guehi, playing in defensive midfield for only the third time in his career, nodded in Rayan Cherki’s corner with six minutes to go.

And it got even worse for Bournemouth when Josko Gvardiol guided a shot into the bottom corner in injury time.

The goal was initially disallowed for offside, but given after a video assistant referee review.

It was Bournemouth’s first defeat in any competition since January, ending their club-record 18-game unbeaten run.

City showed improvement from the side who were bashed 3-0 by Arsenal in last Sunday’s Community Shield – but for most of this game it looked as if Maresca was going to start with consecutive defeats.

Replacing a legend is always difficult – as David Moyes experienced when Sir Alex Ferguson left neighbours Manchester United in 2013 – and the late comeback will come as a major relief in their first Premier League game without Pep Guardiola in a decade.

City did not exactly promote from within when hiring Maresca, who quit as Chelsea manager at the start of 2026, but the Italian was Guardiola’s City assistant in 2022-23 and would perhaps be seen as something of a continuity candidate.

It was a very shaky start though and they went 1-0 down at home on the opening day of a Premier League campaign for the first time since 1995-96 – the season they ended up being relegated.

Maresca’s team selection confused many, with six players who have played most of their City games in defence starting on Sunday – including Guehi in midfield.

But all’s well that ends well and Guehi looked as if he had rescued a point before defender Gvardiol added two more from another Cherki pass.

Things would have been more comfortable if Haaland had brought his shooting boots.

The Norwegian has scored 22 goals in 14 Premier League games in the month of August – but failed to take any of his five chances.

Bournemouth fans would have feared a dip after enjoying the best season in their history last campaign. Sixth place took them into Europe for the first time ever.

And it was a surprise when boss Andoni Iraola announced in April he would be leaving in the summer – eventually joining Liverpool.

Ex-Salzburg and Leipzig boss Rose was confirmed soon after – replacing Iraola at the end of last season, giving him plenty of time to watch from a distance and get to know his new team.

Only one of the side who started against City was a new signing, with Portuguese defender Antonio Silva the replacement for Marcos Senesi, who left for Tottenham.

The Cherries showed plenty of the aggressive, positive play that they produced under Iraola thanks to such dangerous attackers on the break – including Rayan, Evanilson and Tavernier, who all linked up well for the opening goal.

Letting the lead slip late on will be hugely frustrating and ends their long unbeaten run, but Rose, and Cherries supporters, should still have seen plenty to encourage them from a game they would not have expected to win.

And if they had picked up Guehi from a corner maybe they would have done.

Mitchell Starc took 10 wickets in the match as Australia bounced back from last week’s shock defeat by Bangladesh to win the second Test by an innings and 51 runs and draw the series 1-1.

The visitors were skittled for 95 in 38.

3 overs with Starc taking four wickets and Nathan Lyon and captain Pat Cummins three each, as Australia wrapped up victory just after tea on the second day at the Great Barrier Reef Arena in Mackay.

Starc finished with match figures of 10-51, following his 6-12 in the first innings as Bangladesh struggled to 64 all out.

The game was the fourth-shortest completed Test match with a side winning, with exactly 125 overs bowled.

Last Sunday’s nine-wicket defeat for the world’s top-ranked side in Darwin was widely seen as one of Test cricket’s greatest upsets.

“A lot of things went right these couple days and a lot of things went wrong last week,” said Cummins, 33, who took 3-10 in the second innings.

“We needed to bounce back, and it was a great couple of days from the lads. I thought everyone was sharp. It was a great start and we didn’t really let up after that.”

Earlier in the day, Australia added 45 runs to their overnight total as they were bowled out for 210 with Cameron Green top scoring with 67 and Lyon adding an unbeaten 32 to give them a first-innings lead of 146.

Left-arm paceman Shoriful Islam was the pick of the bowlers with 7-48.

The visitors’ second innings got off to a poor start, losing both openers inside eight overs as they slumped to 24-3.

They then collapsed in the middle session, struggling to 95-8 by tea before Lyon wrapped up victory by taking the final two wickets in three balls.

“Much better week. We knew we weren’t at our best, or what we expect of ourselves, in Darwin,” said 36-year-old Starc, who was named Player of the Match and Series after taking 12 wickets at an average of 12.08.

“What we expect of ourselves this week is what we got, particularly with the ball and the wicket that aided us with the ball.”

Starc has now moved to 10th on the all-time Test wicket list with 445, 126 shy of Lyon’s haul in sixth place.

Australia’s next Test series is a three-match tour of world Test champions South Africa in October.