5 Things we learned from Spurs’ crucial win over Coventry City

1. It’s about time De Zerbi got his first Premier League win of the season. It’s taken seven games but Spurs finally have their first win of the season and it comes at a really important time of the season against a decent Coventry side, Spurs’ home form has been abhorrent in the last few seasons but the fans got right behind their team this evening and the players responded. It took just 14 minutes for Spurs to take the lead as Kudus picked up the ball on the right-wing before laying to Maddison on the edge of the box who curled an absolute beauty in the top corner to mark his first start for Spurs in a year and a half with a goal, Coventry responded well after the goal and created a few half-chances themselves with Sakamoto having an effort miraculously blocked by Van Hecke just in front of Kinsky, by half-time I don’t think Lampard would have too upset with the 1-goal deficit and would have been confident that his team would respond in the second half. And respond they would just four minutes into the second half as Yirenkyi picked up the ball in the box before laying it of to Rudoni who’s cross fired off Thomas-Asante’s chest before falling back to the Englishman who squeezed the ball past Kinsky to get Coventry level just minutes into the second 45, Spurs recovered well after the Coventry goal but were struggling to create anything clear-cut as the anxiety in the stadium rose with every passing minute. De Zerbi needed someone to step up and grab the game by the horns and up stepped Omar Marmoush who spun Van Ewijk after Robertson’s pass inside and slammed the ball past Rushworth from just outside the box to give Spurs the lead again in the 58th minute, right before the final whistle Spurs would seal all three points as Solanke brought Tel’s cross down before laying the ball back to Ben Davies who squirmed the ball under Rushworth to ensure a mightily important three points for Spurs at home.

2. The season has finally started at the Tottenham Hotspur Arena. Although Spurs haven’t won a game in the Premier League this season I don’t think that told the full story of how there season has actually played out so far, just look at last weeks game against United at Old Trafford where they played Carrick’s team off the pitch in the first half and should have been at least 0-3 up at half-time. There were a few changes from that game with Maddison, Tosin, Robertson, Van de Ven and Marmoush coming into the starting 11 which definitely played a part in why Spurs played so well today. The standout obviously being James Maddison who started for Spurs for the first time since May 2025 which is crazy but he showed tonight exactly what they’ve been missing for the last year with a beautiful goal to open the scoring this evening, besides the goal he played with an heir of arrogance that no-one else in this Spurs team has with everything going through him in that number 10 position. De Zerbi switched the system to a 3 at the back which I think helps gets the best out of a lot of these players none more so than Omar Marmoush who finally opened his account in the Premier League for Spurs with a brilliant finish from outside the box, I’m far from Marmoush’s biggest fan but I think playing inside just off the left will help get the best out of him which Spurs need without a proper number nine. The other benefactor of this system was Mohammed Kudus who terrorised Jay Dasilva all night down the right-wing and was probably Spurs’ best attacker on the night throughout the 90 minutes, overall I think De Zerbi would have done just about anything to win tonight so come out with a 3-1 win will do this side the world of good. Surely it’s only up from here.

3. This Coventry City side are more than able to compete in the Premier League. To be fair we’ve already seen it already this season against Nottingham Forest and Newcastle United but Lampard’s side proved again tonight despite losing that they are here to compete in the Premier League, the one negative from the game for Lampard will be that they didn’t compose themselves after the equaliser and conceded ten minutes after. Had they played on the anxiety within the stadium I think Coventry could have snatched at least a point tonight, unfortunately for the Sky Blues the attack didn’t quite connect like last Monday with Cherif, Sakamoto, Rudoni etc all struggling to get into the game which became even more apparent when Awoniyi and Mason-Clark came on in the second half who were absolutely terrible. Defensively I don’t think there’s much they can do for the goals with Maddison scoring a worldie for the first goal, the second and third goals are definitely saveable for Rushworth who hasn’t started the season well but he’s a young keeper so you have to be patient. Overall I think we’ve seen enough from this Coventry side that they’ll be more than capable of staying up this year alongside the likes of Hull and Ipswich, whether they do or not is another question but they definitely have a chance.

4. Dejan Kulusevski finally makes his return to the Tottenham squad. I feel like this deserves its own point as I think most people thought we might never see Kulusevski play for Spurs again after missing the entirety of last season due to injury, De Zerbi threw him on in the 87th minute which gave the whole stadium a massive lift and it was great to see him back on the pitch after so long out. The last time we saw him in a Spurs shirt was in May 2025 and he looked like he really enjoyed being back on the pitch tonight with some sprints late in the game, it will be interesting to see how De Zerbi uses him going forward this season whether it’s as a right-winger or more inside as a number 10 or even further back alongside Tonali. It’s easy to forget just how impactful the likes of Mohammed Kudus, James Maddison, Dejan Kulusevski etc are on this Spurs team who are just an infinitely better side with those players in it, they’ll be a fun watch throughout the season.

5. What’s up next for these two teams? Both teams aren’t in European action this week so they’ll be back next weekend with Spurs taking the short trip to Stamford Bridge to face Chelsea in a London derby on Saturday, for Coventry they are back at home next weekend with a game against Fulham on Saturday which could be crucial for their survival hopes. I’ll be back tomorrow covering PSG vs Barcelona which simply cannot disappoint considering the way both teams have started the season, I hope I’ve not jinxed it. Have a good evening.