ames Maddison Scores on Tottenham Return as Spurs Beat Coventry
There was a welcome feel-good mood in London as Maddison made his first start in 17 months and marked it with a spectacular early goal. Dejan Kulusevski was also back in the matchday squad after missing the whole of last season.
Jack Rudoni equalised early in the second half, but Spurs went back in front just before the hour. Omar Marmoush lashed in his first goal for the club, and substitute Ben Davies made the points safe in added time.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Maddison said he had simply wanted to play well, show his qualities and demonstrate what he brings to the team—and what it had been missing since his last start. He added that the manager had asked him to play and had wanted to enjoy watching him from the sideline, so he hoped he had delivered. The playmaker also said he believed he could help push the team up the table as they try to avoid a repeat of last season, when they only just escaped relegation. At 29, he said, he still has plenty of years left, plenty of self-belief and the quality to make a real difference in the league.
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Spurs went into the match bottom of the Premier League and were the only team in England’s top six divisions without a league win this season, despite a huge summer outlay. De Zerbi had taken the squad to Marbella in southern Spain for warm-weather training in an effort to kickstart their campaign, and it paid off against Frank Lampard’s competitive Coventry side.
Maddison, who ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in August 2025, just three months after injuring the same knee, put Spurs ahead in the 14th minute after good work from Mohammed Kudus on the right. Waiting just outside the penalty area, Maddison took Kudus’s pass and curled it past Coventry goalkeeper Carl Rushworth into the top corner, sending the home fans into wild celebration. He nearly doubled the lead after half an hour, but an effort that was somewhere between a cross and a shot drifted narrowly wide.
Newly promoted Coventry drew level in the 49th minute through Rudoni’s close-range finish. Spurs lost the ball in the Coventry half and the visitors broke forward; Rudoni’s effort hit a teammate, but the ball fell kindly back to him and he drove it home. Nine minutes later Spurs were ahead again when Manchester City loanee Marmoush held off Milan van Ewijk and unleashed a powerful shot from distance. Kulusevski, whose career was interrupted by a knee injury in May 2025, came off the bench in the closing minutes to a huge ovation from the home crowd. Veteran Spurs defender Davies then secured the three points in the dying minutes, poking home from the edge of the penalty area.
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The win lifts Spurs to 16th and gives De Zerbi some much-needed breathing space.
