Brighton show there is life after Moises Caicedo with emphatic victory against Luton Town

Given the events of the past 36 hours, the pre match pyrotechnics were somewhat fitting. Lots of noise, bright lights, but ultimately not that productive.

Agents prey on both clubs and players to earn their corn but it remained to be seen if the disruption and uncertainly surrounding Moises Caicedo would affect Albion’s preparation for this opener?

Caicedo may very well be just out to break the British transfer record; he very well may be a contender for the greatest player to ever pull the blue and white striped shirt of Brighton but the sooner he is out of both the Albion and Sussex the better regardless of the size of the fee or the eventual destination.

For their part, despite the obvious distraction the Albion started brightly against newly promoted and EPL debut making Luton. Ironically only four minutes in, record signing Joao Pedro conjured up a hot favourite for miss of the season, getting his feet tangled and putting the ball the other side, when cliché alert, it would have been easier to score.

Brighton’s obvious but ultimately non-productive superiority was finally rewarded when Solly March opened the scoring on 35 minutes. Cliche’s coming thick and fast – if this had been a boxing match, it would have been stopped, but at 1-0 one stroke of luck, one moment of magic can change a game. Brighton should have been home and hosed at half time, but how many times has that soundbite been trotted out since the dawn of our beautiful game.

Joao Pedro finally opened his Albion account with a 71st minute penalty, after he’d been brought down in the box. With a confident strike of the ball, Luton’s afternoon was effectively ended.

Or was it, the aforementioned stroke of luck, a dubious handball by Lewis Dunk – backed up by the ever-inconsistent VAR – and Luton’s Carlton Morris put the visitors back in the game from 12 yards on 81 minutes.

Normal service was resumed on soon after when substitute Simon Adingra capitalised on some pantomime defending from the visitors and claimed his first Albion EPL goal. His fellow substitute Evan Ferguson made it four in injury time and the inevitable rout was complete.

At the end, the stats don’t lie, 71 per cent possession, 27 shots, 12 of which were on target, paint the picture. The Albion were simply too good for their visitors and on another day an Amex record score could have been on the cards.

I’m sure Luton have a set game plan for the campaign – the same as Les Dennis has in Strictly – but neither of them will end up winning either title. Ultimately, on this showing, its going to be a long nine months for the Hatters.

As for Moises, without wishing to sound like a cracked record, this needs sorting and quickly. The revelation that he’d agreed to join Chelsea verbally as far back as May, shows the calibre of both the player and the people around him.

He’s not the first player to let the Albion, their fans and himself down, but should it be nothing more than club history by now.