Peter Bankes refereed Brighton & Hove Albion’s 4–0 win over Aston Villa on the 2026–27 Premier League opening weekend.
Bankes was the appointed referee for the Sunday match at Brighton. His assistants were Ian Hussin and Wade Smith, while Michael Salisbury served as the fourth official. Matt Donohue was the video assistant referee and Craig Taylor was the assistant VAR.
The match became one of the weekend’s clearest results, with Brighton scoring four times in the opening 31 minutes and Aston Villa playing with 10 men. Referee appointments are easy to confuse because several officials worked other Matchweek 1 fixtures, including Stuart Attwell for Newcastle United versus Liverpool and Jarred Gillett for Manchester City versus Bournemouth.