Watford's 3-0 defeat was their first loss at home against Brighton since September 2012, when they lost 1-0, ending a run of four league games against the Seagulls at Vicarage Road without defeat.
Brighton secured their biggest victory on the opening day of a league season since 1999-2000 (6-0 v Mansfield in Division 4), whilst Watford suffered their biggest defeat on day one since 2001-02 (3-0 v Manchester City in the second tier).
Brighton have won their opening game of a top-flight season for just the second time (also in 1980-81 beating Wolves 2-0), drawing two and losing three of their other five games.
Watford have lost their opening game of a season for the first time since 2006-07 (a 2-1 defeat v Everton), ending a run of 12 matches without defeat on day one (won six, drawn six).
Brighton have ended a nine-game winless run in the Premier League (D3 L6), their first victory in the competition since beating Crystal Palace back in March.
Watford have lost three consecutive home league games for the first time since December 2013 in the Championship, when they suffered five consecutive defeats.
Florin Andone netted Brighton's second goal just 62 seconds after coming on as a substitute.
Brighton's Neal Maupay is the 13th different French player to score on his Premier League debut; only England (96) has seen more debut goalscorers in the competition.
Since the start of last season, no side has scored more Premier League own goals than Watford (four - level with Wolves and Burnley).
Match Stats
Possession
Home48% Away52%
Shots
Home11Away5
Shots on Target
Home3Away3
At this week’s Fans Forum in reply to a question, to paraphrase GP:
“The hardest thing in football is to score from open play. They’re working hard on several aspects to improve that”.