In his latest Sky Sports column, Paul Merson assesses Aston Villa's dreadful start to the season following their heavy defeat at Brighton. Following a summer that saw them sell a spine of key players in Ezri Konsa, Youri Tielemans and Morgan Rogers, Villa found themselves 4-0 down to Brighton after 30 minutes, and ended up losing by the same scoreline.

The transfer sagas are not over at Villa - with Ollie Watkins not involved against Brighton amid interest from Saudi Arabia and goalkeeper Emi Martinez also missing the game.

It breaks your heart to see Villa like this - I don't see Unai Emery staying. You sell all your best players, what do you expect? I didn't expect them to be 4-0 down in 30 minutes, but I didn't expect them to beat Brighton. It's madness at the highest level. We're talking about a big, big football club that just got in the Champions League, won a European trophy - and then sold all their best players.

They have been active in the transfer window with the likes Johan Manzambi, Matteo Ruggeri and Alejandro Garnacho coming in, but I do worry for Villa this season. I don't expect them to go down, of course not. But I don't expect them to finish in the top half even with a top manager like Emery. If Emery's not fed up with this situation, then he's some person. This situation is very rare. We saw Spurs win a European cup and finish 17th. He won the same European cup and finished fourth.