Sussex

Simon Stone
Chief football news reporter

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Brighton start as they mean to go on – beginning the 2026-27 season with a Sunday home game against Aston Villa.

Fabian Hurzeler's side are in the unusual position of knowing their campaign as a whole will begin with a Conference League play-off first leg tie, with the second leg to follow in the first midweek of the season.

That means the Villa game is on a Sunday and the trip to Chelsea that follows will also be shifted away from it's current Saturday slot on 29 August.

Providing they reach the league phase, Brighton's squad depth will be tested by the first match coming between a trip to Sunderland and the home game with Crystal Palace, and the second coming after the Palace encounter and before a trip to Liverpool.

As usual, Brighton are away on Boxing Day – at Fulham. They also have midweek away trips to Bournemouth and Manchester United.

Hurzeler's side finish the campaign at home to Liverpool and away at Arsenal.

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Unai Emery's Aston Villa haven't lost any of their four Premier League encounters against Fabian Hurzeler's Brighton (W3 D1), with the Seagulls losing 64% of their Premier League fixtures against the West Midlanders.

However, Brighton are getting used to a good start. Since losing 3-1 to Chelsea on matchday one in 2020-21, they are unbeaten in their opening game across five Premier League seasons (W4 D1).

Villa, meanwhile, are a slower burner in recent times. After returning to the Premier League in 2019-20, they have only started their season with a victory twice in seven attempts (D1 L4), beating Sheffield United in 2020-21 and West Ham United in 2024-25.

• Read more on the matches and rule changes for 2026-27

Brighton will begin their 2026-27 Premier League campaign with a home game against Aston Villa.

The match will take place on Sunday, 23 August at 14:00 BST, with the Seagulls' first away fixture against Chelsea on the weekend of 29-30 August.

Fabian Hurzeler's side face Fulham (A), Tottenham (A), Manchester United (H) and Bournemouth (H) over the Christmas and New Year period.

And they end their league season against Arsenal at Emirates Stadium on Sunday, 30 May, when all games will kick off at the same time.

See Brighton's Premier League fixtures in full here

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With the countdown to the 2026-27 Premier League fixture release well and truly on, we asked for your stories of opening-day games - both good and bad - that have stuck in your minds most.

Here are some of your replies:

Matt: Burnley away - we won 3-1 and it was our first game in the Championship in 2002-03! It was a superb day and Bobby Zamora was on fire.

Thomas: Maheta Molango scoring after about 30 seconds against Reading in 2004. He was a new, exciting striker signing. He literally did nothing else after those 30 seconds for his whole time at the Albion and he was turfed out of the club midway through the season.

Geoff: Saturday, 18 August 1979 - our first ever game in the top flight and against Arsenal, who had Frank Stapleton, Liam Brady and Pat Jennings. Alan Mullery selected five forwards that day: Gerry Ryan, Peter Sayers, Peter O'Sullivan, Teddy Maybank and Peter Ward. We were three goals down by half-time, finally losing 4-0. A temporary stand increased the capacity to 29,000, but many more got in by tailgating through the old turnstiles. It didn't matter that we lost, we were just so happy to be there to witness that game.

Michael: I'll never forget our first Premier League game against Manchester City. The absolute shock at the pace of the top flight. The players were leaning on the goalposts out of breath! We held them to a low block for 70 minutes before losing 2-0 to a side that went on to get 100 points. It's crazy how much we have evolved since then!

Come back to this page at 10:00 BST to see how the Albion's 2026-27 Premier League fixtures have fallen.

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We asked you which players you have watched at the World Cup that you think would be a great fit at Brighton.

Here are some of your comments:

Dylan: Get Denis Undav back. I know a lot of bigger teams will be trying to get him as well, but we need a new striker as next year will probably be Danny Welbeck's last so we need to get one now. If Undav is not an option then Enner Valencia from Ecuador.

Henry: Crysencio Summerville of the Netherlands would be the obvious choice. We need more firepower!

Roman: Luka Vuskovic of Croatia and the USA's Folarin Balogun would be great for the team.

Joshua: Australia's Patrick Beach as a replacement for Bart Verbruggen if he leaves. Woud be a cheap replacement who looks good - and Brighton recruit cheap and sell well. Wilfred Singo of Ivory Coast would be great signing as well - strong presence at the back. Pedro Vite had a good game against Ivory Coast, and we know what Brighton can do with Ecuador midfielders.

Spotted someone you want for Brighton? Let us know who and why he'd fit

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The World Cup and some Brighton interest as focused a lot of talk on Tottenham's Luka Vuskovic.

Still only 19, the central defender caught the eye on loan at Hamburg last season and Brighton have already made an offer for him this summer as they look to fill the void left by Jan Paul van Hecke.

Vuskovic drew praise in some quarters for his play in Croatia's World Cup defeat by England on Wednesday, while others were critical of his defending when Jude Bellingham raced in on goal to give the Three Lions a 3-2 lead.

Last season, Vuskovic helped Hamburg finish 13th in the Bundesliga. He was shortlisted for the Bundesliga player of the season and rookie of the season awards, as voted for by fans, clubs and selected media.

There was much fanfare given he was one of only five players in Germany's top flight in 2025-26 to register a century each of clearances, ball recoveries, duels won and aerial duels won.

His national team manager Zlatko Dalic has said the 6ft 4in central defender "will be one of the pillars of our national team for the next 10 years".

A pillar for country perhaps, but amid interest from other clubs and with several Tottenham defenders to compete against, his role at Spurs still seems somewhat uncertain.

Tottenham have turned down a second bid from Brighton worth £35m for 19-year-old Croatia centre-back Luka Vuskovic, who spent last season on loan at Hamburg. (Sky Sports), external

Want more transfer stories? Read Thursday's full gossip column

Follow the gossip column on BBC Sport

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In recent weeks, we asked you which Brighton players you would choose to keep, loan and sell this summer transfer window and now BBC Radio Sussex have had their say.

Host of the Albion Unlimited podcast Johnny Cantor, floated numerous names for each category alongside former Brighton striker Warren Aspinall, but has ultimately settled on these three players.

"I am going to keep Olivier Boscagli," Cantor said. "I think he could be a really good player. I know he's spoken to me quite a few times about how frustrated he is about not playing regularly; he's played in the Champions League, been at a big club and come to Albion and he's not playing as much as he wants.

"So he may be thinking, and I'm not saying he is, that he's in the prime of his career at 28-years-old and thinking 'right I need to get out whether on loan or somewhere else' but I would keep him because I think he's going to be vital – particularly in Europe.

"In terms of loan, I'm going to go for Tommy Watson. We need to find a club where he's going to play regularly. I don't know where that is, it wasn't at Millwall, and I really feel like he needs to find somewhere where he's happy."

For which player he would sell, Cantor agreed with the fans' conclusion.

"I'm going to go for the same as all the others – I think Carlos Baleba. That ship has sailed now and I think it's time to maybe find a place for him and move on in the midfield.

"They will need more of a physical presence because I do thinkg Baleba does have that and he's probably the best at it at Albion but for me, if it wasn't Brajan Gruda, I'd go for Baleba."

Listen to the full episode and hear Aspinall's three players on BBC Sounds here