Brighton and Hove Albion thumped 10-man Aston Villa 4-0 at the Amex Stadium on Sunday.
All four goals came in a disastrous first half for Villa, who had Joao Gomes (£5.5m) sent off for violent conduct.
Here are our Scout Notes from the game.
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BRIGHTON DIFFERENTIALS HAUL
Brighton’s season kicked off on Thursday in the Arctic Circle, where they drew 0-0 with Tromso in the first leg of their Conference League play-off.
Fabian Hurzeler made two alterations to his line-up from that match.
Rested in Europe, Maxim De Cuyper (£4.5m) and Jack Hinshelwood (£6.0m) both made their way into the starting XI, and subsequently delivered the two biggest points hauls of Gameweek 1 so far:
Deployed ‘out-of-position’ on the left wing, De Cuyper really impressed, first forcing Victor Lindelof’s (£4.5m) own goal, before he got himself on the scoresheet 10 minutes later after converting Georginio Rutter’s (£5.5m) cross.
De Cuyper recorded a match-high four shots and three chances created, as well as 35 final-third touches, the second-most of any Albion player behind Pascal Gross (£5.5m).
Above: Maxim De Cuyper’s touch heatmap v Aston Villa, via our Stats Centre Page
Hinshelwood picked up from where he left off last season, adding goals number three and four in quick succession, before he was hooked just after the hour mark, likely with Thursday’s return leg against Tromso in mind.
Diego Gomez (£5.0m) meanwhile supplied an assist, having headed De Cuyper’s delivery across goal for Hinshelwood to nod in.
There understandably wasn’t anywhere near as much drama in the second half.
BRIGHTON CLEAN SHEET, WHY KADIOGLU MISSED OUT
Despite the onslaught of goals, when asked what he liked most about his team’s performance, Fabian Hurzeler replied…
“The clean sheet!”
“I think we defended well. We were really good out of possession. The first minutes we struggled a little bit. Aston Villa had the ball a lot, they controlled the game, but then more and more we got the control of the game back.” – Fabian Hurzeler
Remember, Albion ranked second for expected goals conceded (xGC) in the second half of last season.
Luka Vuskovic (£5.0m) started in the centre of defence and did well.
Elsewhere, Boscagli filled in at left-back for the absent Ferdi Kadioglu (£4.5m), who missed out with a minor injury.
Rutter was also spotted in the mixed zone in a protective boot, although it appears to be a precautionary measure.
VILLA COLLAPSE
In contrast to the hosts, Villa were all over the shop.
Defensively, it was mistake after mistake, with the usually reliable Pau Torres (£4.5m) particularly poor.
With Villa 4-0 down, Joao Gomes’ red card for violent conduct capped off a miserable afternoon for the visitors. He’ll subsequently miss the next three matches against Arsenal, Hull City and Nottingham Forest.
Further forward, Emiliano Buendia (£6.0m) was playing as Villa’s most advanced attacker and had three early chances, but failed to hit the target with any of them.
Flanking him was youngster George Hemmings, who is just the third £4.5m midfielder to start in Gameweek 1 so far.
However, with no proper focal point up top, Villa hardly laid a glove on Brighton, having generated merely 0.31 expected goals (xG) from six shots.
NO WATKINS, VILLA INJURY LATEST
Aston Villa have already sold Morgan Rogers (£7.5m), Youri Tielemans (£6.0m), Ezri Konsa (£4.5m) and Lucas Digne this summer.
And in a further blow, Ollie Watkins (£8.0m) and Emiliano Martinez (£5.0m) were both absent from the squad on Sunday amid transfer uncertainty.
Watkins returned from his post-World Cup break earlier this week, but he’s the subject of transfer interest from Al Hilal, with the player reportedly keen on the move to Saudi Arabia.
“This question is for him. You can call him and try to get his answer. The players here wanted to play and we had two strikers with a small injury. The question on Watkins is for him.” – Unai Emery on Ollie Watkins
It left Villa short up top on the south coast, although in better news, it sounds like Tammy Abraham (£5.5m) and Brian Madjo (£5.5m) will be back soon, potentially for the visit of Arsenal in Gameweek 2.
“Manzambi is starting to work on the field and maybe he will need two weeks more to join us, more or less.
“Madjo has a small injury and I think he can get progressively better and start training with us as well, but he may need some days more.
“Tammy Abraham as well, he has a small injury and he is going to join us again. Hopefully we have strikers ready to play [soon], but this can happen.” – Unai Emery, via the Birmingham Mail
New arrivals Zion Suzuki (£5.0m), Matteo Ruggeri (£4.5m) and Alejandro Garnacho (£6.0m) were all on the bench for Villa at Brighton, but the game came too soon for the recently signed Aaron Wan-Bissaka.
