Tottenham have their first Premier League win of the season. James Maddison scored on his first league start in 536 days and Omar Marmoush curled in his first goal for the club as Spurs beat Coventry City 3-1 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Monday night, with Dejan Kulusevski returning from the bench after more than 500 days out.
How the game was won
Spurs started the night bottom of the table with three points from six games, and for once the early pressure told. They had 72 per cent of the ball by half-time and took the lead in the 14th minute, Mohammed Kudus cutting in from the right and finding Maddison, who swept a first-time shot into the top corner from outside the box. It was the first time Tottenham had led in a league game this season, and it came from the player Roberto De Zerbi had brought back into the side, as set out in our predicted lineup for this fixture.
Coventry were level four minutes after half-time. Jack Rudoni, who also scored against Newcastle in Coventry’s previous game, worked his way into the box and finished after the ball bounced to him off Brandon Thomas-Asante, with Antonin Kinsky only able to pat the effort into his own net. The lead was restored in the 58th minute. Andy Robertson played the ball into Marmoush, the forward turned Milan van Ewijk and curled his shot into the far corner, a goal checked and cleared after Coventry claimed an elbow in the turn.
The points were sealed in the sixth minute of stoppage time. Mathys Tel crossed from the left, Solanke held the ball up and laid it off, and substitute Ben Davies struck a low shot that Carl Rushworth got two hands to but could not keep out.
De Zerbi lost Robertson and Tosin Adarabioyo to injury concerns in the second half, and Marmoush was also replaced late on, but the biggest cheer of the closing stages was for a substitute. Kulusevski came on in the 87th minute for his first appearance since May 2025, ending an absence of more than 500 days with a knee injury that needed two operations.
Tottenham player ratings
Antonin Kinsky: 4 – Beaten too easily for the equaliser, patting Rudoni’s effort into his own net, and one first-half corner passed straight through his hands.
Tosin Adarabioyo: 7 – The most assured of the back three before an injury ended his night in the 71st minute.
Jan Paul van Hecke: 6 – Blocked an early Tatsuhiro Sakamoto shot with his face and defended his box well enough, without dominating it.
Micky van de Ven: 7 – Used his recovery pace to slide in and stop Thomas-Asante after playing the Coventry forward onside in the first half.
Archie Gray: 7 – Filled in on the right of the 3-4-2-1 with Bentancur suspended, kept the ball moving and gave Sakamoto little room.
Sandro Tonali: 7 – Drove Spurs forward from midfield and twice shot over as Tottenham pushed for a third goal in the second half.
Andy Robertson: 7 – Set up the winning goal with the pass into Marmoush before signalling to the bench and going off in the 69th minute.
Mohammed Kudus: 8 – The assist for Maddison, a first-half display full of direct running, and the player Coventry could least afford to leave in space.
James Maddison: 9 – A goal of real quality on his first league start in 536 days, against the club where he came through the academy, and the creative centre of the side for 69 minutes.
Omar Marmoush: 8 – Quiet before half-time, decisive after it. His first Tottenham goal, turned and curled in from Robertson’s pass, won the game.
Dominic Solanke: 7 – Shot over from a good position in the first half, had a tap-in ruled out for offside in the build-up, and laid on the third goal for Davies in stoppage time.
Substitutes: Ben Davies 8 (on 69 minutes, and scored the third goal in stoppage time), Conor Gallagher 6 (on 69 minutes), Mateus Fernandes 6 (on 71 minutes, replaced the injured Adarabioyo), Mathys Tel 6 (on 87 minutes), Dejan Kulusevski 7 (on 87 minutes, a short but significant return after more than 500 days out).
Coventry City player ratings
Carl Rushworth: 5 – Beaten by two finishes curled in from the edge of the box, then let Davies’ low stoppage-time shot slip in after getting two hands to it.
Milan van Ewijk: 5 – Combined well with Sakamoto early on, then turned by Marmoush for the winning goal.
Bobby Thomas: 6 – Headed one first-half corner behind and defended the box in numbers as Coventry sat in their shape.
Ethan Pinnock: 6 – Solid alongside Thomas for long spells, with Solanke kept mostly quiet between them.
Jay DaSilva: 5 – Booked before half-time for pulling Kudus back and given a hard evening by the winger throughout.
Caleb Yirenkyi: 5 – Worked hard in front of the defence but Coventry needed more control, and he was replaced on the hour.
Matt Grimes: 6 – Kept Coventry’s passing tidy in spells, though his side spent most of the night without the ball.
Tatsuhiro Sakamoto: 5 – Took too long over an early chance that Van Hecke blocked, and was replaced in the 78th minute.
Jack Rudoni: 8 – Coventry’s best player. Scored for the second game running, arriving in the box to level the scores at 1-1 in the 49th minute.
Brandon Thomas-Asante: 7 – The assist for Rudoni’s goal and a constant run in behind, denied once by Van de Ven’s recovery tackle.
Sidiki Cherif: 5 – Little service and little impact before Frank Lampard changed the front line on the hour.
Substitutes: Frank Onyeka 6 (on 60 minutes), Taiwo Awoniyi 6 (on 60 minutes, back from a ban), Ephron Mason-Clark 6 (on 78 minutes), Gustavo Hamer 6 (on 78 minutes), Kaine Kesler-Hayden 5 (on 88 minutes).
What it means
The win takes Tottenham to six points from seven games and up to 16th place, above Coventry on goal difference with the two clubs level on points, after the Marbella training camp De Zerbi used to reset his side, covered in our look at the plan to rescue a broken season. Coventry stay on six points after back-to-back wins over Nottingham Forest and Newcastle, the run examined in our Coventry and Newcastle talking points earlier this month. Tottenham’s next league game is away to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in Matchweek 8.