Brighton put five past Coventry, and only Crystal Palace in 2017 have started a season like this
Four games into their return to the Premier League, Coventry have no points and no goals. Brighton’s five at the CBS Arena on Sunday was the heaviest of the four defeats.
Sep 13, 2026
Brighton were two goals up and untroubled when Taiwo Awoniyi caught Maxim De Cuyper with an arm in the 53rd minute and was sent off. Whatever was left of Coventry’s afternoon went with him. Brighton added three more to win 5-0 at the Coventry Building Society Arena on Sunday, and Frank Lampard’s side have still not scored a goal in the Premier League.
Kostoulas broke it open, the red card settled it
For half an hour Coventry held. They were pinned back and short of the ball, but the shape held and Brighton kept running into bodies. Then Charalampos Kostoulas got away on the right side of the box in the 35th minute and finished, and the game stopped being a contest.
Malick Yalcouyé made it two six minutes after the interval. He flicked the ball past Aurèle Amenda with his head, chased it down, got past Bobby Thomas and slid a low right-footed finish inside the near post, with De Cuyper credited for the assist. Awoniyi went two minutes later.
Down to ten with 37 minutes left, Coventry had nothing to hold on to. Thomas took Kostoulas down in the box and Pascal Gross put the penalty into the bottom corner on 70 minutes. Lewis Dunk then hit the fourth from 25 yards into the top corner on 83, the sort of goal a centre back attempts only when the game is long gone. Yasin Ayari made it five in the fourth minute of stoppage time.
Four games, no goals, ten conceded
Coventry came up as Championship winners under Lampard and opened away at Arsenal, losing 3-0 at the Emirates on 21 August. Hull won 1-0 at the CBS Arena on 29 August through a Liam Millar goal eight minutes from time. Erling Haaland’s header settled it for Manchester City on 5 September. Now this. Four matches, no points, no goals, ten conceded, bottom of the table.
Coventry were relegated in 2001 and have not scored a Premier League goal since.
Only one club in Premier League history has started a season the way Coventry have started this one. Crystal Palace lost their first four in 2017-18 without scoring, the first English top-flight side to do that since Preston in 1924-25. They conceded seven across those games, three fewer than Coventry have. Frank de Boer was sacked the day after the fourth defeat, 77 days into a three-year contract.
The rest of that story is the part Coventry supporters will want. Palace did not score until their eighth league game, when Yohan Cabaye’s deflected effort went in off César Azpilicueta and they beat Chelsea 2-1. Roy Hodgson took them to 44 points and 11th. A start this bad has been survived, and recently enough that people still remember how.
That is the only comfort on offer. The goals conceded are one problem and a fixable one. Four games without putting the ball in the net is a different problem, and it is not one a defensive reshuffle solves.
Brighton keep finding scorers
Brighton went into the weekend on four points from three games. This takes them to seven, and it is the second time this season they have scored four or more, after the 4-0 they put on Aston Villa at the Amex on 23 August.
Kostoulas was the best player on the pitch. He scored the opener, won the penalty for the third, and gave Coventry’s back line a problem it never solved. Yalcouyé, back at the club after a loan at Swansea last season, took his goal like someone who has decided he is staying.
Five different scorers is the number that stands out. A centre back shooting from 25 yards at 3-0 up tells you the rest. Brighton have a habit of these afternoons against sides who cannot get out of their own half, and Coventry could not get out of theirs.