Brighton & Hove Albion beat Aston Villa 4–0 in the 2026–27 Premier League opener.
The fixture took place on Sunday 23 August 2026 at the Amex Stadium. Brighton scored four times and Aston Villa failed to score, producing the opening round’s largest margin of victory.
Aston Villa are based in Birmingham and play at Villa Park. They should not be confused with Brighton’s opponents in another opening-round fixture, or with Bournemouth, who faced Manchester City on the same day.
Brighton’s result mattered beyond the points because early league tables use goal difference as a ranking tiebreaker when teams have equal points. A four-goal win therefore gave Brighton a strong initial goal difference, while Villa began with a deficit of four.