Here are our Tottenham talking points after they finally recorded their first Premier League win of the season by beating Coventry City

It was a night of magical returns, new injury worries and finally that winning feeling for the majority of the 60,913-strong crowd inside the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

In case you had forgotten, or pushed to the back of your mind, how truly rotten Spurs' home form has been, Monday night brought only their second Premier League victory in N17 in 2026 so far and it's almost November. If you want to go further back, it was only their fourth league win at their own stadium since May 2025.

It was a victory though, even if it was rarer than unicorn droppings, and their first win home or away in this new Premier League season.

Tottenham had tried everything to change things up before the game to alter the pattern. Roberto De Zerbi had taken the players for four nights to Marbella, even the music in the stadium before kick-off was altered and no trumpet played.

Despite Coventry threatening to score within 11 seconds of the encounter starting and causing Spurs problems with their counter-attacks throughout, the north London side did the previously impossible this season and won in front of their own fans in the league.

It was a game that fed into the classic football cliché that you'll often play well and fail to win, or even lose, and then you'll play a worse game and come away with the victory.

Spurs were better than this in most of their recent matches, but for once they had quality and belief and in James Maddison a returning player who never loses confidence in his own ability. With moments like he produced in the 14th minute, why would he?

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All the talk pre-match had been about the return of Dejan Kulusevski to a matchday squad 526 days after he suffered his knee injury, but it had actually been 536 days since Maddison last started a match for Tottenham and how the club have missed him.

He has played a substitute role since the end of last season, unable to reach full fitness after his ACL injury due to a couple of little knocks both in the summer and then in the opening game of this season at Brentford.

Finally he got a bank of training behind him and it was fitting that his first start in almost 18 months came against his boyhood team, even if their fans decided to boo him with every touch from the start. His own box inside the stadium, not far behind the press area, was rammed with friends and family, many of them Coventry fans.

Maddison had a huge smile on his face before kick-off and soon showed what Spurs have missed in that time out, someone to link their play between midfield and attack, instinctively hit the quick, cute passes between the lines and swing in dangerous balls into the six-yard box.

For someone with so few minutes behind him, just 80 this season from the bench across five matches, the 29-year-old looked strong, he won all four of his duels in the game, and he lasted longer than might have been expected to, coming off to a big ovation on 69 minutes.

For he had done what he needed, especially with that wonderful 14th minute goal. Tosin Adarabioyo and then Archie Gray got the ball to Mohammed Kudus, who touched it past his man and sprinted to the right-hand side of the Coventry box.

The Ghanaian looked up and saw Maddison in space and prodded the ball towards the midfielder, who caught it perfectly to send it curling over visiting goalkeeper Carl Rushworth and inside the left-hand post.

It was the only one of Spurs' goals that the Coventry stopper had no chance with and every replay on the big screens had the fans 'oohing' and 'aahing'.

Afterwards Frank Lampard called it a "world class" finish, even after Maddison had booted the ball inches from the Coventry manager's head in the dugout during a tackle and immediately ran over to apologise. The former Chelsea man had seen the funny side of it.

Maddison believed it was the best of his 17 goals in a Tottenham shirt.

"I think that's probably the best one so far. There's more to come," he said after the game. "That was an amazing feeling. It's been such a long time since I played from the start. It was Bodo/Glimt here in the Europa League semi-final almost 18 months ago. It's a special feeling.

"I was a bit nervous before, especially with it being against Coventry. I had a box full of about 20 people today, all my friends and family, who I don't think will be too happy with me because they're all big Cov fans.

"But it's a special feeling and one I won't forget. They asked me, are you going to celebrate? I was like, I don't know. I would never go over the top and be disrespectful, but obviously it's been such a long journey for me. Especially with a goal like that, I wanted to enjoy it.

"I was almost thinking, shall I do the dart [celebration] or not? I didn't really do it properly. Obviously, I don't want to disrespect my hometown club because I love Coventry City. That club is the reason why I'm here today, but I couldn't help but have an emotional outburst."

Maddison is a big presence on and off the pitch for Tottenham, always motivating those going through the same injury absences as he has suffered, and trying to help the younger players.

Before the whistle for the second half, as the Spurs substitutes were leaving the pitch, he put an arm around 18-year-old Luca Williams-Barnett and looked to be dishing out advice. He was doing push-pull motions with his arms, perhaps giving the talented teenager some tips if he were to later come on for his Premier League debut.

Only Sandro Tonali had more touches of the ball (87) beyond the defence than Maddison, who had 69, as Tottenham turned to the two midfielders in every situation.

De Zerbi's formation on the night was an unusual one. It was a back three in possession but clearly a four out of it with Jan Paul van Hecke high and on the right. Marcos Senesi, despite his superb passing at Old Trafford, found himself on the bench with Tosin impressing on his full debut.

Out of possession Gray was back in his favoured midfield role, mostly alongside Tonali, but in possession would get out wide occasionally to prevent Kudus from having to be a wing-back.

"We played three at the back [in possession], I want to explain why," De Zerbi told football.london. "Because for the injured players in the midfield position, Conor Gallagher came back two days ago, and at the beginning of the week, the medical staff told me maybe he could be not available to play.

"Bergvall was injured, Mateus Fernandes worked just the last two days because of his [new-born] son, and I thought three at the back was the best solution to defend the counter-attack, to have more control of the game, and for that I'm happy because we didn't concede a counter-attack.

"The Coventry style of play is 80 per cent counter-attack, and we didn't concede any counter-attack. We conceded one shot, we didn't create more chances or too many chances like the other games, to be honest, but I knew before the game, and I prepared the game, saying to the players this game was maybe the most difficult, because the defensive style of Coventry is different than Manchester United or the other games."

On the midfield make-up, the Italian added: "I prepared with three at the back, one midfielder and three players in the pocket, [Omar] Marmoush, James Maddison and Archie Gray, with normally these three totally different players.

"Marmoush more an attacker, Maddison more playing in the pocket, for the link with the defenders, with Tonali, and Archie Gray to go in overlapping and underlapping Kudus. I think two players [in those pockets] they scored.

"Robertson played as a winger, and in the first half played very well, Kudus also, I liked his performance, and especially in the second half, because in the first half I think it was too difficult to find the space, Solanke played a good second half."

Gray and Tonali impressed once again, the former delighted to be back in the centre of the pitch and crucial when he switched to right-back later in the game, while the Italian is looking more and more like the key man in the hub of the team.

His fitness is hugely improved and he was pressing high up the pitch in the game's final moments after another lung-busting performance.

It's no coincidence that both Gray (12.4km) and Tonali (12.3km) topped the distance covered stats for both sides, with Dominic Solanke (11.9km) coming in third for Spurs with another sharper performance with his pressing and hold-up play that brought little reward until his added time assist for Ben Davies.

Before that, Spurs had again shown their ability to switch off at least in one key moment. Four minutes into the second half, Tonali failed to stop Jack Rudoni getting into the box and on to a ball that bounced off Brandon Thomas-Asante. Tosin was static and could only watch as Antonin Kinsky patted the shot into his own net.

The Spurs players called for a handball that never was from Thomas-Asante but they showed character in getting themselves back into the lead just nine minutes later.

Tonali sent a couple of efforts over the crossbar and Marmoush one at the keeper before Maddison got the ball to Robertson, who dinked a pass into Marmoush and the Egyptian held off Milan van Ewijk before curling home his first goal for the club

Lampard was aggrieved for what he felt was an elbow from Marmoush as he held off Van Ewijk but called the finish world class, even if Rushworth pushed it into his own net on the stretch.

The game started to sag a little for Spurs after that as the nerves began to set in, understandable for a team that has had so little joy in that stadium. The tension in the crowd was palpable and De Zerbi knew it was time to light up the Bat signal, or more precisely the Deki signal.

"Kudus, I thought he was playing well, I though he could finish the game, but I thought of Kulusevski just for the fans," said De Zerbi. "Just for the fans because they waited for him on the pitch and in the last 5-10 minutes for added time, we needed the support of the fans.

"And they are fantastic with Kulusevski, with us, they suffered too much in the last three or four seasons, I don't know, but they deserve to celebrate many, many wins."

There had already been a standing ovation when Kulusevski came out to warm up down the touchline early in the game, the Swede applauding back at the Spurs fans.

That was nothing though compared to the noise that was emitted when the 26-year-old entered the pitch in the 87th minute. The roof almost came off the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and his first couple of touches were cheered to the rafters.

To his credit, Kulusevski looked switched on from the off, involved in a couple of breaks up the pitch, even if everyone winced with every challenge a Coventry player made on him.

He caused them problems, as did Mathys Tel on the other side, the Frenchman running the length of the pitch before hitting an effort high and wide.

This was all about Kulusevski though and the remarkable achievement of coming back from such a complicated knee injury when many had doubted he would ever play football again, let alone at this level.

Those who saw the gruesome image he posted on social media from his surgery 17 months ago will know just what had to be done behind his right kneecap to that injured patella.

Yet here he was back in a Premier League game and it was only after the match that he allowed a smile to crease his face when the job was done, Davies hitting a low shot that Rushworth fumbled into the net to allow everyone a sigh of relief.

At the full time whistle, everyone wanted to congratulate Kulusevski, even Coventry players acknowledging his battling journey back to this point.

Maddison hugged him with plenty of emotion, captain Micky van de Ven put his hand to his face, the suspended Rodrigo Bentancur and Pedro Porro grabbed him in the tunnel afterwards and De Zerbi revealed that the dressing room celebrated his return in the appropriate fashion among themselves.

Solanke said Kulusevski has "one of the strongest minds I know" and Maddison was delighted for the Swede.

"Honestly, I was a bit emotional there. I've seen the journey he's been on. We had a whole season out together," said the midfielder. "Then I obviously came back at the end of the season and he was still struggling a little bit. He's honestly one of the most hard-working blokes ever.

"He's a bit of a nutjob. He's a bit crazy and I don't think he'll mind me saying that. But he is so hard-working and he's so honest and just raw. He's just a good human being.

"When he came on, I was just stood up clapping because I've seen first-hand, up close and personal, the emotion that he's gone through. I also think back to the Leeds game where I came back and that took me back there as well. So, I gave him a big hug at the end because he deserved that."

It's remarkable to think about what has happened since Kulusevski last played. There were three head coaches that the Sweden did not play for in Thomas Frank, Igor Tudor and De Zerbi until Monday night.

He missed a World Cup, many players have come and gone at Tottenham and even Daniel Levy left his role as chairman after 24 years at the helm.

It's fair to say that Tottenham - the Europa League win aside - have struggled in the Swede's absence. He's the kind of character who drives up standards and won't accept anything less than everything.

De Zerbi said of Maddison and Kulusevski: "They are different players. Different talent, different experience, different personality. With them in the dressing room, there is another atmosphere."

Spurs will remain cautious and careful with the Swede but if he can get back to where he was then he will be a huge player in De Zerbi's squad.

Those who remember back 526 days to Kulusevski's injury after that Marc Guehi tackle will recall Ange Postecoglou's words at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium that day.

"He should be ok. Just talking to him after. The medical team are not too concerned about him. It was just a knock," said the Australian.

Little did he, Kulusevski or the medical team back then know what had happened inside that knee.

So you can forgive the cynicism from all concerned when De Zerbi answered football.london about the new injuries that forced off Robertson, Tosin and Marmoush, the former in particular appearing gutted at what might have been a hamstring problem.

"No, no, no, I think there are no injuries, nothing important," said the Tottenham head coach.

Spurs fans won't be counting their chickens - or cockerels - just yet, but amid it all this was a night to enjoy as old faces returned and bad habits were finally cast aside.