Brighton and Hove Albion kickstart their 2026/27 campaign with a massive victory over Europa League champions and nemesis side Aston Villa.
It was all in the first half, as Albion's game plan was executed perfectly. Scoring goals and causing havoc in the midfield. The overloads were very impressive and gave the visitors something to think about.
Albion set up with a lot of narrow players, and it made the middle of the pitch a consistent area for duels, and as we know, Fabian Hürzeler's Albion side are exactly that type of team.
Jack Hinshelwood and Maxim De Cuyper were among the goal scorers, and their combined threat with Georginio Rutter was enough to leave Villa in the dust before the game had really kicked off.
The first goal actually came against the run of play. Villa had started well and had Albion on the back foot, but a quick mistake at the back was well punished by De Cuyper, who forced an unfortunate own goal off Victor Lindelof.
De Cuyper doubled Albion's lead shortly after with a well-taken finish from Georginio's excellent work on the left side. A driving run forward was everything that we've wanted to see from our Frenchman, and he was magnificent today.
Jack Hinshelwood continued the rout shortly after with a quick brace inside two minutes. A deft header at the back post and a well-taken finish from close range put Albion beyond any reasonable reach.
Granted, Villa were very poor. Perhaps there could be the argument that they were often the architects of their own downfall. However, 4-0 was probably the best-case scenario for the Villains, as it could have been even more in the first half alone.
It went from bad to worse for the visitors when João Gomes was sent off for a poor challenge on Georginio, more great work from our number 10!
Albion killed off the second half pretty well, albeit in a much slower-tempo half.
This isn't necessarily a bad thing; Albion are balancing more games than before and will have the visit of Tromsø's second leg on Thursday before heading to Stamford Bridge on Sunday. Keeping the players fit is vital for this new schedule.
New faces like Luka Vuskovic, Zadok Yohanna, Costinha, and Ibrahim Osman were all introduced to the Seagulls fans this afternoon.
Vuskovic had a very steady game in defence despite not having a great deal of defensive work to do. The Croatian wonderkid was very comfortable on the ball and broke the lines very well with some passes forward into the wings and into the feet of Georginio.
When Costinha came onto the pitch (and almost rifled in a quick goal, but for the left post), fans had a rare glimpse of Mats Wieffer moving into midfield, which was an encouraging prospect amid the upcoming sale of Carlos Baleba to Manchester United.
Yohanna and Osman were both exciting talents; although somewhat lightweight in duels, their driving runs forward were very exciting. We could have an exciting new wing duo between them!
Overall, a stunning game of football, and it has to be said, hats off to Mr Hürzeler this afternoon. A crisp German beer is waiting for him tonight!
