Full Time
Brighton and Hove Albion thumped Coventry City 5-0 at the CBS Arena, turning a tricky away day into a rout. Charalampos Kostoulas broke the deadlock before half-time, and things got worse for the hosts when Taiwo Awoniyi was sent off for an elbow on Maxim De Cuyper; from there Malick Yalcouye, a Pascal Groß penalty, a rasping Lewis Dunk special and Yasin Ayari all got in on the act. Dunk's effort was the pick of the goals — not the kind of finish you expect from a centre-back. It's three defeats from three for Coventry after Matchweek 3, still without a goal to their name this season, while Brighton's five-goal romp lifts them into mid-table in 9th.
Pre-match Talking Points
Match talking points will appear here before kick-off.
Team Talking Points
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1Coventry are back in the Premier League for the first time since 2001, having won the Championship last season under Frank Lampard, who signed a new deal to 2029 in the summer. Treat them warmly – a generation of Sky Blues fans has waited a very long time for this.
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2It's been a bumpy ride. They're 17th with 9 points from 10 games, and they're the only side in the league yet to draw a match: three wins, seven defeats. Coventry don't really do 'boring nil-nil', which is either thrilling or exhausting depending on your blood pressure.
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3The wins have been good ones, mind – a 4-1 over Newcastle, a 1-0 at Nottingham Forest and a 3-1 over Sunderland. Last time out they lost 3-1 at Everton, where Yann Gboho scored his first goal for the club in a game they'd started the better side.
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4The low point was a 5-0 home hammering by Brighton back in September, with Taiwo Awoniyi sent off. Probably best not to bring that one up unless you've got a very forgiving Coventry fan in front of you.
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5Next up is enormous: Crystal Palace at home on Saturday 21 November. Palace are bottom of the table, so a win would give Coventry real breathing space above the relegation zone. Call it a 'six-pointer' and you'll fit right in.
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Top thing to say down the pub
No draws all season – Coventry either win or lose, and honestly I respect it. Palace at home after the break feels massive, though.
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Avoid saying
"Lampard couldn't hack it at Chelsea, he'll get them relegated" – he's the man who brought them back to the top flight after 25 years. Coventry fans adore him, and you will not win that argument.
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1Brighton are second in the Premier League going into the international break, with 22 points from 10 games. They've also got the best goal difference in the division at +19 – better even than leaders Arsenal's +10. Drop that stat and you'll sound like you've been reading the small print.
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2Last weekend they beat Brentford 2-0 at the Amex. Diego Gómez opened the scoring with a long-range screamer on his weaker foot, and Pascal Gross – back at the club and still pinging them in – added a penalty just before half-time.
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3The defence is the quiet story. That was their seventh clean sheet of the season and their fourth in five home league games. For a team usually praised for pretty football, they've become surprisingly hard to score against.
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4Fabian Hurzeler, still one of the youngest managers in the league, is having the best spell of his time at the club. Earlier in the season Brighton also thrashed newly promoted Coventry 5-0 – a result that set the tone for the whole autumn.
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5Next up is a trip to Hull on Sunday 22 November, then the fixtures get tougher. Brighton fans are cautiously excited – being five points behind Arsenal in second is uncharted territory, so let them enjoy it without saying the words 'title race' too loudly.
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Top thing to say down the pub
Best goal difference in the league and seven clean sheets already – Brighton aren't just the pretty-football side any more, they're properly hard to beat.
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Avoid saying
"Brighton always sell their best players, they'll fall away" – yes, they sell well, and yet here they are second in the table. It's the business model working, not a weakness, and Brighton fans are very tired of explaining that.