Awoniyi red card leads Lampard to all-time career low

Taiwo Awoniyi endured a nightmare afternoon as his first Premier League red card helped condemn Coventry City to a humiliating 5-0 defeat against Brighton.

The Nigerian forward’s dismissal was one of several setbacks suffered by Frank Lampard’s side, who have now lost all four of their opening top-flight matches without scoring a single goal.

Coventry were already trailing before Awoniyi’s afternoon went from bad to worse at the CBS Arena.

Kostoulas opened the scoring before half-time after finding space inside the penalty area and firing into the bottom corner. Brighton then doubled their advantage 10 minutes after the restart when Yalcouyé capitalised on a loose ball and finished at the near post.

Moments later, Awoniyi was shown a straight red card for elbowing Maxim De Cuyper, marking the first time the Nigerian has been dismissed in his Premier League career.

Brighton took full advantage of their numerical advantage, with Pascal Groß converting from the penalty spot after Bobby Thomas brought down Kostoulas.

Lewis Dunk then produced a stunning 30-yard strike to make it 4-0 before Yasin Ayari completed the rout in stoppage time.

For Coventry, the defeat continued a historically poor start to life in the Premier League.

The scale of Coventry’s collapse also handed Lampard an unwanted first in his managerial career.

The Brighton defeat was the first time one of Lampard’s teams has conceded at least three goals, received a red card and conceded a penalty in the same match.

Remarkably, it came in his 283rd game as a manager.

The result also placed Coventry in unwanted top-flight history. They have become only the fifth team to lose each of their opening four matches of a league campaign without scoring, joining Derby in 1899/1900, Stoke in 1906/07, Preston in 1924/25 and Crystal Palace in 2017/18.

Lampard now faces a huge challenge to halt the slide, while Awoniyi will have to serve the consequences of his first Premier League dismissal.

For the Nigerian, what began as another opportunity to help Coventry finally get their season moving quickly turned into one of the most difficult afternoons of his English career.