As Tottenham Hotspur go in search of their first Premier League win of the season at home to Coventry City on Monday night, Sports Mole site coordinator Ben Knapton discusses Roberto De Zerbi's chances of being sacked if Spurs suffer a shock loss, while also sending the Tottenham boss a firm James Maddison demand.

Tottenham vs. Coventry: James Maddison "absolutely" has to start Premier League clash

I said before the Everton game that Spurs' attack was scary, and now they've got the fourth-worst attack in the league in terms of underperforming their expected goals.

But a lot of it comes down to not just creating chances, but creating high-quality chances, proper good chances for the wingers and strikers, because Maddison's had a very disruptive start to the season.

Dejan Kulusevski is nearly there, but it's been over 500 days, so it's going to take a while for him to get back to the level he was at. If he can get there, that's a huge boost for De Zerbi at a time when he needs it.

Xavi Simons is still out for a few months as well, so that's three of their chief creators who have either not played this season at all, or had a really disrupted start to the campaign.

De Zerbi has been very cautious with Maddison after the ACL and then his shoulder issues, with other small setbacks in recent months, but he just absolutely has to come into that starting team now.

Bentancur is now suspended, you could have the likes of Tonali, Mateus Fernandes and Gallagher in midfield, but if Maddison's fit, he absolutely has to be starting a run of games now to increase the quality of the chances Tottenham are creating.

There's only so much De Zerbi can do when the players just aren't putting the ball in the back of the net often enough. It seems the club recognise that, because all the reports I've read suggest they are still behind De Zerbi. To be honest, they have to be.

Can Tottenham afford to sack Roberto De Zerbi?

They gave him a five-year contract. If they sack him now, the payout would be maybe the highest we've ever seen in the Premier League.

They backed him so heavily in the transfer market, nothing like we've seen from Tottenham before. Maybe the only exception would be the 2013 window with the Bale money, although that was a disaster of a window as well.

If things keep going the way they are, it could be a Bale 2013 window 2.0 again for Tottenham. But they spent £330m on players he seemingly wanted to bring to the club.

There's no way Spurs can really think about it unless things get absolutely toxic. If they draw here, then things will get more toxic. If they somehow lose, I can't imagine what the atmosphere is going to be like at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium at full time.

Tottenham committed to a long-term project with De Zerbi, and maybe they have to take a leaf out of Arsenal's book. Several years ago, Arsenal and relegation were being used unironically in the same sentence.

Arsenal stuck with [Mikel] Arteta, saw the vision, and look where it's got them now. I know De Zerbi is not Arteta, but even if Tottenham suffer a horrendous loss this weekend, his job is seemingly still safe for a little while longer.

How much longer if the wins just don't come is another question. Spurs can just take it one game at a time, and if I'm tempting fate, I think this is the one where they finally get that first win on the board.