It was a night to savour for both Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski, who made his first appearance in 526 days after a 17-month absence with a patella injury.

Roberto De Zerbi gave Maddison the nod against his boyhood club and Spurs’ number 10 responded with a stunning curled effort from 22 yards before Coventry levelled four minutes into the second half through Jack Rudoni.

Omar Marmoush responded with his first goal for Tottenham with 58 minutes played and after Kulusevski was introduced to thunderous applause, a nervy finale was avoided when long-serving defender Ben Davies watched his scuffed effort beat Carl Rushworth in stoppage-time.

It ensured Spurs claimed a first top-flight win of the season at the seventh time of asking and only a fourth at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium since Kulusevski and Maddison were injured in May 2025.

Spurs started bottom and without four players from the 1-1 draw at Manchester United, but De Zerbi was boosted with Maddison able to make a first start in 536 days and Kulusevski included in the matchday squad after an equally torrid time out.

Yet the hosts almost went behind after 11 seconds, with Antonin Kinsky denying Brandon Thomas-Asante from a tight angle.

After a midweek trip to Marbella, Spurs started like they were still on the beach with Kinsky fortunate to save Tatsuhiro Sakamoto’s cross before the same player had a shot deflected over by Micky van de Ven.

With De Zerbi’s team requiring a spark, Maddison produced a moment to savour against his old club in the 14th minute.

Not long after a clever dummy, Maddison sent a curled first-time effort over Rushworth and into the top corner to put Tottenham ahead in the Premier League for the first time this season.

Maddison’s trademark darts celebration followed before Dominic Solanke had the ball in the net, but it was quickly followed by the offside flag.

Coventry remained a threat with Sidiki Cherif thwarted by a Jan Paul van Hecke block, before Maddison had a shot headed clear and Solanke fired over.

There was still time for Thomas-Asante to get in behind Spurs’ defence, only for Van de Ven to produce a superb last-ditch tackle to ensure it was 1-0 at the break.

Four minutes after half-time and Coventry levelled through Rudoni after a catalogue of errors by Tottenham.

Van Hecke firstly gave the ball away and set Coventry on the counter-attack before Rudoni’s effort was blocked by Asante-Thomas. But Sandro Tonali and Tosin Adarabioyo reacted slowly and Coventry midfielder Rudoni’s follow-up was too strong for the weak hand of Kinsky.

De Zerbi watched his team react well with Tonali sending two efforts over before Marmoush put a lacklustre first half behind him with a maiden Spurs goal.

The Egyptian brushed off Milan van Ewijk, who went down, before the Manchester City loanee found the bottom corner with a strike too powerful for Rushworth.

Tottenham lost Andy Robertson and Adarabioyo to injuries before Marmoush went down, which was followed by Kulusevski’s comeback in the 87th minute.

His first two touches were met with enormous cheers and the decibel levels increased when Davies’ low effort beat Rushworth to get Spurs off the mark this season.