Premier League release statement on Joao Gomes incident in Brighton vs Aston Villa

Joao Gomes had a league debut to forget in Aston Villa's clash against Brighton.

The former Wolves man was sent off after 38 minutes with his side already 4-0 down at the Amex Stadium.

A Victor Lindelof own goal, a Maxim De Cuyper strike and two from Jack Hinshelwood put the Villans in a very dismal position at half-time

Gomes kicked out at Georginio Rutter and was handed his marching orders by referee Peter Bankes.

The referee reviewed his actions and decided that it warranted a dismissal to make Unai Emery's afternoon even worse.

The Premier League have now provided clarification on the incident that saw the B6 club reduced to 10 men.

What did the Premier League say about Joao Gomes' red card?

Gomes' dismissal took two minutes to confirm due to the referee going to the screen.

The governing body have now shared the reasoning for the red card in an official statement.

Taking to X, the Premier League Match Centre account said: "After VAR review, the referee issued a red card to Gomes for serious foul play."

"Ref: 'After review, Aston Villa No.35 kicks out at his opponent. Final decision is red card'."

Emery's side can have no qualms. It was silly from the midfielder and put his side in even more trouble.

What has gone wrong for Aston Villa?

For starters, a summer of intense change has not helped them at all.

Morgan Rogers departed to Chelsea, Ezri Konsa went to Arsenal, Lucas Digne left for Paris Saint-Germain and Youri Tielemans joined Manchester United.

Ollie Watkins was left out as he wants to move to Saudi Arabia and Emi Martinez is also seeking an exit.

As well as that upheaval, Emery's selections have not helped, with new goalkeeper Zion Suzuki on the bench and Aaron Wan-Bissaka not even in the squad.

George Hemmings made his first league start, but it is a bizarre team, with no recognised striker, and the likes of Emi Buendia and Ross Barkley starting the game.

Injuries may have played their part, but with the likes of Alysson and Alejandro Garnacho on the bench, it could have been a better team that the manager put out.

They will now have to move on and look towards the next game, but it will be a disappointing start to the campaign, and something they need to bounce back from as soon as possible.