Coventry's Taiwo Awoniyi was sent off for a 'ridiculous' elbow on Maxim De Cuyper during Sunday's 5-0 home thrashing by Brighton.
With Frank Lampard's Sky Blues 2-0 down to goals from Charalampos Kostoulas and Malick Yalcouye, things went from bad to worse when Awoniyi was given a straight red card eight minutes into the second half for violent conduct as he caught De Cuyper in the face while going up for an aerial ball.
Awoniyi's first Premier League red card
Referee Tony Harrington went straight to his pocket, with replays showing Awoniyi had made clear contact with his arm.
VAR checked and confirmed Harrington's on-field decision.
The Premier League Match centre revealed the conversation between the officials, with Harrington's assistant observing: "He has caught him in his face with his elbow."
Harrington said: "The final decision is red card for violent conduct."
That was backed up by VAR, who concluded: "There's a movement. Confirming the on-field decision of red."
Awoniyi now faces a three-game ban â the standard length for violent conduct â meaning he's set to miss Coventry's trip to his former side Nottingham Forest next Saturday, as well as Tuesday's Carabao Cup third-round clash with Aston Villa and the Premier League meeting with Newcastle after the international break.
Awoniyi had 'no intention of playing the ball'
The striker, who arrived from Forest last month, protested his innocence, but he got no sympathy from talkSPORT's Perry Groves.
The ex-Arsenal man said: "It's ridiculous from Awoniyi. He's got no intention of playing the ball whatsoever."
talkSPORT's Adam Bridge agreed, commenting: "It's a forearm smash someone in the WWE would be proud of."
Coventry's afternoon got even more miserable after the sending-off as Brighton ran out 4-0 winners.
Pascal Gross put the Seagulls 3-0 up before Lewis Dunk â usually associated with scoring headers from set-pieces â unleashed an absolute rocket from range to make it 4-0.
Yasin Ayari then added a fifth goal in stoppage time as Fabian Hurzeler's visitors' recorded a truly resounding win in the West Midlands.
Two teams on very different trajectories
While Brighton move up to fourth and are the Premier League's top scorers with 13 goals in their first four games of the season, Coventry are still searching for their first points and goal since returning to the top flight after 25 years away.
With this defeat, the Sky Blues also equalled an unwanted record.
They're just the second team in Premier League history to lose their opening four matches without scoring â after Crystal Palace under Frank De Boer at the start of the 2017/18 campaign, which led to De Boer's sacking.
It's also the first time Coventry have lost their first four league fixtures since 1919 â at the beginning of their first-ever season in the top four tiers of English football.