Here comes the Premier League, rushing back to center stage, its hunger for drama never remotely sated. A league of the big six and the field? No one told Newcastle, Brentford, or even Hull.
Many delivered stunning results on Saturday and Sunday, thrusting big names into some early-season turmoil. Ninety minutes of football is far, far too few to definitively say that any team is in crisis. And yet ... did you see the Aston Villa result?
We'll pick up on that first of all, but there are plenty of other big names whose sense of panic we must assess first of all. Horror results happen every once in a while and, Europa League holders or not, the gap between Aston Villa and Brighton is not so great that there cannot be a shellacking on a day where everything goes wrong for one team and right for the other. And boy did everything go wrong for Unai Emery's side.
It really was one of those days where it looks like you, Pau Torres, have got a massive reprieve for your clumsy error when Maxim De Cuyper drives a shot against the post after stealing your misplaced pass. And then the rebound smacks against Victor Lindelof and into the net. A devastating cocktail of ineptitude and misfortune doomed Villa to their heaviest Premier League defeat since May 2024.
They allowed 21 shots from the Seagulls, a combined 3.67 xG raining down on Marco Bizot's goal. This wasn't even a case of Brighton racking up the shots and goals after Joao Gomes' brainless act of violent conduct. Four goals and a man up, Brighton took pity on their beleaguered visitors.
Had they not, this could have been a cricket score. Up next it is the champions Arsenal at Villa Park with Tottenham, Newcastle and Manchester City all to play in their first eight games. All the more so given that their squad makes Harrenhal look like an edifice that is holding itself together rather nicely.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
