Without a win in our previous six Premier League games and having slipped to the foot of the table after the weekend’s matches, we produced a battling display to overcome Coventry City and climb to 16th in the standings.
James Maddison – making his first start since 1 May, 2025, and against his home town and boyhood club – set us on the way with a stunning opener before we were pegged back by a Jack Rudoni goal early in the second half.
We weren’t to be denied this time though, with Omar Marmoush netting his first for the club with another wonderful goal, while Ben Davies popped up in stoppage time to secure the points. Perhaps the biggest cheer of the night though was reserved for Swedish forward Kulusevski, who came off the bench late on having been out of action for 17 months.
Roberto De Zerbi made five changes to the team that started at Old Trafford nine days ago, among them Tosin Adarabioyo making his first league start in our colours. It was the visitors with the first big chance though on 10 minutes after Milan van Ewijk and Tatsuhiro Sakamoto combined down the Coventry right, the latter finding space in the box to get his shot away but Jan Paul van Hecke produced an excellent block to send the ball over the crossbar.
At the other end, Dominic Solanke saw his effort blocked before we took the lead in the 14th minute with an absolute beauty. Mohammed Kudus did really well to get past Jay Dasilva down our right before laying the ball off to Maddison, who hit a first-time curling shot from 22 yards which looped over Carl Rushworth into the top corner.
The goal was just the lift we needed – the first league goal we’d scored in the first half of a game this season – and we were able to play with a bit more freedom. Much of our football went through Maddison and we were getting into good attacking areas but just couldn’t make them tell, the Sky Blues defending well in and around their box, although Solanke went close in the 39th minute only to fire over the bar.
However, for all our good play, we needed a last-ditch tackle from Micky van de Ven to ensure we led at the interval. Brandon Thomas-Asante got away down the inside left channel thanks to a neat flick from Sidiki Cherif but our skipper used all his formidable pace to get back and block the Coventry forward’s shot.
Just five minutes into the second period though, the scores were level. Rudoni had the ball near the byline down the left, squared into the box to Caleb Yirenkyi, he played it back to Rudoni whose first shot hit his own player Thomas-Asante, bounced back to him and with his second effort, he beat Antonin Kinsky to make it 1-1.
We responded well though, Sandro Tonali with two fierce shots which both just cleared the crossbar before another cracking strike restored our lead, Marmoush shrugging aside van Ewijk and curling right-footed past Rushworth from the edge of the area. It was some way to open his account for the club, on his seventh appearance in our colours.
Both teams made a whole host of changes in the closing stages and it became quite an end-to-end contest. We had half-chances, Kudus cutting inside but blazing over while Mateus Fernandes’ shot was comfortable for Rushworth. The long-awaited return of Kulusevski came with three minutes remaining as he replaced Kudus and received an incredibly warm reception from the Spurs faithful, especially when he touched the ball for the first time competitively in 526 days!
The game still needed to be won though and eight minutes of stoppage time with the points in the balance led to a nervy finish. But all that anxiety vanished in the 96th minute when the ball bounced around in the Coventry box, Solanke laid it into the path of Davies and our longest-serving player in the squad hit a low left-footed shot which bounced over the outstretched arm of Rushworth and set the seal on a great night all round.
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Line-ups
Spurs (4-2-3-1): Kinsky, van Hecke, Tosin (Fernandes 71), van de Ven (c), Robertson (Davies 69), Gray, Tonali, Kudus (Kulusevski 87), Maddison (Gallagher 69), Marmoush (Tel 87), Solanke. Substitutes (not used): Dubravka, Senesi, Olusesi, Williams-Barnett.
Coventry City (4-2-3-1): Rushworth, van Ewijk, Thomas, Pinnock, Dasilva, Yirenkyi (Onyeka 60), Grimes (c), Thomas-Asante (Mason-Clark 78), Rudoni (Kesler-Hayden 87), Sakamoto (Hamer 78), Cherif (Awoniyi 60). Substitutes (not used): Bentley, Simms, Mfuni, Torp.
Match data
Goals: Spurs – Maddison 14, Marmoush 59, Davies 90+6; Coventry City – Rudoni 50.
Yellow cards: Spurs – Solanke; Coventry City – Yirenkyi, Dasilva, Rudoni.
Referee: Andrew Madley.
Venue: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Weather: Thick cloud, light winds, 12 degrees.
Attendance: 60,913.