John McGinn was left angry after Aston Villa's shock 4-0 defeat to Brighton in their opening Premier League game of 2026-27.

After a summer of turmoil, with the likes of Morgan Rogers, Ezri Konsa, Youri Tielemans and Lucas Digne departing Villa, Unai Emery fielded an unfamiliar starting XI at the Amex Stadium.

And a dismal showing saw Villa become only the second team in Premier League history to concede four goals, receive a red card and score an own goal in the first half of a match, after Southampton against Manchester United in February 2021.

Victor Lindelof converted into his own net before Maxim De Cuyper doubled Brighton's lead 10 minutes later.

It got worse for the Europa League winners as Jack Hinshelwood scored a quick-fire double for the Seagulls, before Villa midfielder Joao Gomes received his marching orders for violent conduct five minutes from half-time. 

And captain McGinn offered no excuses for Villa's capitulation.

He told Sky Sports: "We started the game very well. Had the chance to go ahead with Emiliano [Buendia]. We were the ones to create the chances. But playing at the highest level, when you make a mistake, they happen. The goals we concded were poor, there's no getting away from that.

"Going away in the Premier League, we obviously apologise to the supporters, it's not easy to travel, costs a lot of money, takes a lot of time. And they don't want to come here and see their team lose by four goals before half-time.

"But on the flipside, 4-0 down at the Amex with 10 men, we had to stand up in the second half and the squad of players in there, we had a chance to puff our chests out, be men and fight and we did that.

"We're obviously angry and disappointed at the result. We set high standards and that's far away from that. However, there's a bit of me that's proud at how we reacted. Today could easily have got away from us and got messy. A lot of pride in the second-half performance. After five games last season, we had one point. Hopefully this season can go the same way as that."

Emery was equally as frustrated, but he was pleased with his side's response in the second half.

"We started the first 10-15 minutes very well. Then I can't understand exactly why we lost in 20 minutes all the match and a player," he said.

"But this is the process we have. We know football is not easy, we know four years working here at Villa we have to work in difficult moments as well. Always, we recover.

"The response on the field in the second half, I'm really happy.

"The players they didn't give up, they worked it, showed good commitment and kept going."

Meanwhile, Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler was thrilled as his team became only the fourth side to score four goals in the first half of their opening game of a Premier League season, after Bolton in 2001-02 (v Leicester City), Manchester United in 2006-07 (v Fulham), and Liverpool in 2019-20 (v Norwich City).

He said: "The first minutes we struggled a little bit. But then more and more we got the control of the game back. We scored some nice goals. The first goal with some luck. But we scored some nice goals that helped our game, the intensity. The red card was a game-changer but all the goals we scored were 11 v 11.

"The second half we were quite serious. We had the ball, controlled the game, didn't give away the ball too easy and created some chances. Quite a mature performance.

"It's always helpful to win games. But it was only one game. A good start."