Despite positivity going into their first top-flight campaign in 25 years, Coventry have struggled with the step up in standard, and they almost made a catastrophic start to this game too.
Some loose defending from Jay Dasilva at the far post saw him half-clear a cross perfectly into the path of the waiting Diego Gomez, but he could only hammer a ferocious effort wide of the target.
The Seagulls were dominant early on, twice going close to breaking the deadlock in the 18th minute when Charalampos Kostoulas first fired an effort into the side netting before Malick Yalcouye poked straight at former Brighton stopper Carl Rushworth.
Frank Lampard’s men did muster a chance of their own midway through the first half when Jack Rudoni headed narrowly over from Ephron Mason-Clark’s delivery.
The same man threatened again moments later when he ghosted in at the back post and forced Bart Verbruggen to make a stunning one-handed stop.
The tide had firmly turned in Coventry’s favour by the half-hour mark, forcing Verbruggen into another top-drawer intervention to tip over Frank Onyeka’s wicked volley, but their failure to take advantage was punished in brutal fashion when Kostoulas worked himself a yard of space inside the area and arrowed into the bottom left corner.
It was always likely to be a long way back from there for Coventry, and their task was made twice as hard within 10 minutes of the restart when Yalcouye nipped in front of Aurele Amenda to win a loose ball, raced through on goal and finished at the near post.
Things went from bad to worse almost immediately from the subsequent kick-off, as Taiwo Awoniyi elbowed Maxim De Cuyper off the ball and earned himself a straight red card.
There was no let-up in Brighton’s approach, and a third goal arrived from the penalty spot through Pascal Gross after Bobby Thomas had felled Kostoulas.
With the game well and truly over, breaking their league goal drought was the best Coventry could hope for, and they did go close to doing so in spite of their man disadvantage when Brandon Thomas-Asante’s half-volley was repelled by Verbruggen.
Nevertheless, Brighton had the final say, adding an outrageous fourth goal through Lewis Dunk’s 30-yard rocket.
Yasin Ayari rubbed salt in Coventry's wounds in stoppage time when he added a fifth to round off what was a near-perfect performance, while it also ended their three-match winless Premier League away run.
Coventry, meanwhile, unsurprisingly sit rock-bottom of the table, with their next chance to get on the board coming at Nottingham Forest next Saturday.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Bart Verbruggen (Brighton & Hove Albion)
