Tottenham Climb Off the Bottom With a Messy 3-1 Win

Tottenham Hotspur beat Coventry City 3-1 on Monday for their first Premier League win of the season. The result lifted them from last place to 16th, on 6 points from 7 games. Roberto De Zerbi still said they had played better in the games they did not win.

James Maddison scored on his first start in 536 days, Omar Marmoush added a first goal in a Spurs shirt, and Ben Davies poked in at 90+6. Dejan Kulusevski came on after 526 days out. Frank Lampard’s newly promoted side left north London with nothing, and with the same 6 points as their hosts.

De Zerbi Says the Better Football Came in the Defeats

The Italian did not dress the night up as a turning of the page. In his played much better in other games remarks, he named Old Trafford, the first half against Aston Villa, the first half against Everton, and the Carabao Cup night against Liverpool, then put this Matchweek 7 meeting in London below them.

I think we played much better in other games, Old Trafford, Aston Villa especially in the first half, Everton especially in the first half, Liverpool in the Carabao Cup, but we didn’t play so well, not for our responsibility, but for their credit, for the Coventry credit, because playing against one team who defend so close, so compact with low block, it’s always a very, very tough game.

Roberto De Zerbi, Tottenham head coach, post-match press conference

He had told his players beforehand that this might be the most difficult fixture, because Coventry’s defensive shape is not Manchester United’s. Spurs finished with 65 percent of the ball and 5 shots on target to 1, with corners 4-4. De Zerbi said they conceded one shot and no counter-attack, which matches the on-target count if not every ball Coventry swung at the box. He also said they had been too predictable, especially before the break, and had not moved the ball fast enough when it went wide to Mohammed Kudus and Andy Robertson.

“We showed character.” 👊

Watch Roberto De Zerbi's Coventry reaction on the official Spurs app 🗣️

📲 https://t.co/Z7oL2or7Z9 pic.twitter.com/hTW5XS6Wgx

— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) October 20, 2026

The win still mattered to him for a narrower reason. After two or three seasons of this kind of grind, he said, the mental piece is the one that counts, and the players had now seen they can close a league game. He wants the football to improve. He did not claim it already had.

A First-Time Finish Against His Boyhood Club

Maddison, 29, had not started a competitive match for Tottenham since 1 May 2025. He spoke to De Zerbi during the week and felt it was time. The head coach asked him to play and said he wanted to enjoy watching from the side. Fourteen minutes in, Kudus beat Jay Dasilva on the right and laid the ball off, and Maddison hit a first-time curling shot from 22 yards that looped over Carl Rushworth into the top corner.

It was Tottenham’s first league lead of the season, and it came against the club where Maddison grew up. He called the pictures of the finish a bit blurry, the kind you dream of in the dark days after an ACL. “Always the light at the tunnel for you,” he said. He also said he felt proud of Kulusevski, because he knew exactly how that wait felt.

On Tuesday the club said he took 69 percent of the fan Player of the Match vote and had been put on the Premier League’s Matchweek shortlist. He now has 56 Premier League career goals from 225 appearances, with 48 assists. For 69 minutes he was the passer Tottenham have been missing, popping up left, right, and between the lines, which is where the goal came from. When Conor Gallagher replaced him, some of that craft left with him.

Why De Zerbi Built a Back Three for Coventry

The shape was a workaround. De Zerbi prepared three at the back, one midfielder, and three players in the pocket, because the midfield list had holes in it. He wanted extra bodies against a side he called 80 percent counter-attack. Tosin Adarabioyo made his first league start in these colours, with Jan Paul van Hecke and captain Micky van de Ven either side of him. Sandro Tonali sat, Archie Gray joined Maddison and Marmoush in the pockets, and Robertson played as a winger opposite Kudus, with Dominic Solanke through the middle.

WHO MISSED THE NIGHT

• Lucas Bergvall: Injured, so De Zerbi would not risk a conventional midfield pair.
• Mateus Fernandes: Worked only the last two days of the Marbella camp after the birth of his son, then came on at 71 minutes.
• Conor Gallagher: Back in training two days earlier, with medical staff unsure he could start, then introduced at 69 minutes.
• Rodrigo Bentancur: Serving a suspension after the red card in the 1-1 at Old Trafford on 10 October.

Five names changed from that United XI. When Tosin went off at 71 minutes, Fernandes stepped into midfield and the back line flattened into a four, with Gray sliding right. De Zerbi said there were no new injuries of any importance to Robertson or anyone else. The patch held in one sense: Coventry never ran through on the break the way Lampard’s teams like to. It did not hold in another. Five minutes into the second half, the equalizer was scrappy, close-range, and preventable.

Marmoush’s Strike Survives a Shove Argument

Jack Rudoni had the ball near the byline, worked it back, and saw his first shot hit teammate Brandon Thomas-Asante. The rebound sat up and Rudoni beat Antonín Kinský at 49 minutes. De Zerbi’s warning about the first mistake had lasted less than a quarter of an hour of the second half. Tonali then hammered two shots over the bar, and Tottenham needed a second moment of quality more than they needed another spell of patient passing.

HOW THE GOALS WENT IN

Robertson slipped Marmoush in on the edge of the box at 58 minutes, on the Egyptian’s 7th appearance. Marmoush shrugged Milan van Ewijk, opened his body, and curled into the far corner. Replays of that shrug will travel farther than the finish. Van Ewijk goes down as Marmoush uses an arm to make the yard; some want a foul, others see a centre-back running into the arm. Andrew Madley let it go, the video room left it, and the goal stood. Lampard’s side had sat in all night and still found a way to make the score 1-1. They could not make the next argument stick.

Davies, on for Robertson at 69 minutes, then hit a low left-foot shot at 90+6, after Solanke laid one into his path in a scramble and the ball bounced over Rushworth’s arm. Eight minutes had been added. Until that poke, the points were still loose. It was not a smash. It was a night that needed the ball to hit the net three times because the rest of the attack never quite arrived.

Kulusevski Comes On Because the Crowd Had Waited

The loudest noise was not for Davies. At 87 minutes Kulusevski replaced Kudus, 526 days after he last played, which was the 19th minute of a 2-0 loss to Crystal Palace on 11 May 2025. He was 26 then and is 26 now. A right patella cartilage injury became two operations, a full missed season, and a year in which Sweden went to a World Cup without him. De Zerbi had called his place on the bench the greatest news since the Everton survival night last spring. He then took Kudus off even though he thought the Ghanaian could have finished.

I thought of Kulusevski just for the fans, because they waited for him on the pitch and in the last 5-10 minutes for extra time, we needed the support of the fans. They are fantastic with Kulusevski, with us, they suffered too much in the last two, three, four seasons, I don’t know, but they deserve to celebrate many, many wins.

Roberto De Zerbi, Tottenham head coach, post-match press conference

The attendance of 60,913 treated every touch as an event. Kulusevski looked short of pace, which is what 526 days does. He had posted before the match that he had told people he would be back, and that now was the time. After the whistle he said the journey had felt impossible, that a couple of months earlier he had to tell his closest family it might not work out, and that he had been doing 10 hours a day when no one was watching. De Zerbi said they celebrated him in the dressing room, and that he might be the most important thing after the win. With Maddison and Kulusevski in the room, he said, the atmosphere is different.

16th Place Is One Point Above the Drop

Before kick-off Tottenham had 3 points from 6 games and sat 20th. The 3-1 moves them above Coventry on goal difference and above Fulham, Forest, and Sunderland on points. It does not move them into mid-table, and it does not open a gap. Bournemouth also have 6 points in 15th. Juande Ramos’s 2008-09 side had 2 points from 8 matches and he was sacked on 25 October 2008. This team, at 6 points from 7, has avoided that number. It has not avoided the same part of the grid.

THE BOTTOM OF THE TABLE

Manchester City lead on 21 points, Arsenal have 18, Brighton 16, Chelsea 13. Tottenham’s own 7-game strip is a long wait for a night like Monday, and it is why a messy 3-1 can still feel like a release without looking like a fix.

HOW THE FIRST SEVEN WENT

1. August 22, 2026: Lose 3-0 at Brentford, where Maddison fractures a shoulder after last season’s ACL.
2. August 29, 2026: Lose 0-2 at home to Newcastle United.
3. September 5, 2026: Draw 0-0 at Nottingham Forest.
4. September 12, 2026: Draw 0-0 at home to Everton.
5. September 19, 2026: Lose 2-3 at home to Aston Villa.
6. October 10, 2026: Draw 1-1 at Manchester United with 10 men after Bentancur’s red card.
7. October 19, 2026: Beat Coventry City 3-1 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Chelsea, fourth on 13 points, host Tottenham at Stamford Bridge at 17:30 on Saturday 24 October. De Zerbi said he does not know what comes next, only that they have to push with the same attitude and play better, because they can.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Long Was Dejan Kulusevski Out Before the Coventry Game?

He was out 526 days, from the 19th minute of Crystal Palace on 11 May 2025 to the 87th minute on 19 October 2026. The right patella cartilage injury needed an operation that week, then an arthroscopy in March 2026 to clean the joint, and he missed all of 2025-26 plus Sweden’s World Cup. He later said he had been doing 10 hours a day when no one was watching, and that a couple of months earlier he had told his closest family it might not work out.

Why Did James Maddison Miss Tottenham’s Opening Six Matches?

He spent last season recovering from an ACL, then fractured a shoulder in the 3-0 opening-weekend defeat at Brentford on 22 August, which pushed his first start of this campaign all the way to 19 October, 536 days after 1 May 2025. He is 29, Coventry is his hometown club, and he said he had spoken to De Zerbi during the week and felt it was the right moment to go back into the XI.

Who Scored in Tottenham’s 3-1 Win Over Coventry?

Maddison at 14 minutes, Marmoush at 58, and Davies at 90+6, with Rudoni’s 49th-minute reply the only Coventry goal. Maddison’s finish was Tottenham’s first league goal in the first half of a game this season, Marmoush’s was his first in a Spurs shirt on his 7th appearance, and Davies, the longest-serving player in the squad, scored with a low left-foot shot after Solanke’s layoff.

Did the Coventry Result Take Tottenham Out of the Relegation Zone?

Yes, in the narrow sense that 18th, 19th, and 20th go down and Tottenham are 16th on 6 points. They sit 1 point above Fulham on 5, level on 6 with Bournemouth in 15th and Coventry in 17th, and they had been 20th on 3 points from 6 games at kick-off. The jump is real and the cushion is 1 point.

Why Did Roberto De Zerbi Start a Back Three Against Coventry?

He said it was first of all for injury reasons in midfield. Bergvall was out, Gallagher had only just returned, and Fernandes had trained only the last two days of the Marbella camp after his son was born, so De Zerbi used Tosin, van Hecke, and van de Ven as a three, Tonali as the single midfielder, and Gray, Maddison, and Marmoush in the pockets to protect against a low block he expected to break on the counter.