Fourteen minutes into Monday night’s match, James Maddison curled the ball into the top corner. The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium let out a noise it had been holding in for weeks. Spurs went on to beat Coventry City 3-1. It was their first Premier League win of the season.
But the result was only part of the story. Three different waits came to an end in the same ninety minutes.
The first win at last
Spurs started this season with six league games and no wins. Before kick-off, they were bottom of the table. For a club of this size, that is a crisis, and the injury list made it worse.
Roberto De Zerbi needed something to change. The win lifts Spurs to 16th, level with Coventry on six points but ahead on goal difference. That is still too close to the bottom for comfort, especially for a football club of this calibre. Yet one win can change the mood of a whole dressing room.
The goals came from three different places. Maddison opened the scoring with that lovely curler. Omar Marmoush made it 2-0 in the 58th minute, his first goal for the club. Ben Davies added the third deep into stoppage time. Jack Rudoni had pulled one back for Coventry early in the second half. For a while, the old nerves came back. Davies’ late goal finally let the home fans breathe.
Maddison’s long road back
The opening goal meant more than the three points. It was Maddison’s first start in 536 days. He missed the whole of last season with a torn ACL, the knee injury every footballer fears. His last competitive start for Spurs was back in May 2025.
It was also his first Premier League goal for Spurs in more than 600 days. That is almost two years of waiting. And there was a small twist. Coventry is the club where his professional career began. He scored against the people who first gave him a chance.
The goal itself was classic Maddison. He found space, looked up and bent it into the corner. He made it look easy, though the months of rehab behind it were anything but.
Kulusevski is back too
Then, with about five minutes left, the crowd stood up again. Dejan Kulusevski came off the bench. He had been out for 526 days, which is more than 17 months. A serious knee injury stopped him at the end of the 2024-25 season.
He did not have time to change the game. That was not the point. Seeing him in a Spurs shirt again was enough. Many fans had started to wonder if he would ever play at this level again. Long knee injuries can end careers, so this return meant a lot to everyone in the ground.
Kulusevski was one of the team’s most creative players before the injury. He is strong, he holds the ball well and he can play on the right or in the middle. If he gets back to that level, Spurs gain a player that no signing could easily replace.
What comes next for Spurs
The next test is much harder. Spurs travel to Chelsea on Saturday night. It is a London derby, and Chelsea will not give them the space Coventry did. Spurs have often struggled at Stamford Bridge, so nobody is getting carried away.
De Zerbi now has choices he did not have a month ago. Maddison can play behind the striker, and Kulusevski can build up his minutes from the bench. Marmoush has his first goal and should feel more confident. Strikers often say the first one is the hardest. Once it goes in, the next ones tend to come more easily, and Spurs badly need goals. Many fans will want to check the latest prices before kick-off. The 12play app makes that simple on your phone. A bad day at Stamford Bridge would undo a lot of the good feeling, so the stakes are real.
One night, three answers
Before Monday, Spurs fans had three big questions. When will we win? Will Maddison be the same player? Will Kulusevski ever come back? By the final whistle, they had an answer to all three.
That does not fix the season. One win against a newly promoted side is not a revival, and De Zerbi knows it. Spurs are still in the bottom half and still have injury problems. But for the first time this autumn, there is a reason to feel hopeful.
The best part might be the timing. Maddison and Kulusevski are coming back just as the fixtures get harder. If they stay fit, Monday night may be remembered as the moment the season turned.
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