Sport / Football

536 days later, Maddison scores on his first start as Spurs finally win

Tottenham beat Coventry 3-1 for their first win of the season, the last of the 92 league clubs to get one. James Maddison scored 14 minutes into his first start since May 2025, and Dejan Kulusevski returned after 526 days.

London, England · October 20, 2026

Tottenham Hotspur beat Coventry City 3-1 at home on Monday night, and the scoreline is the least interesting part of it. This was Spurs' first Premier League win in 148 days and their first of the season. They were the last of the 92 league clubs still waiting for one, and the win lifts them off the bottom to 16th, with six points from seven games.

James Maddison set the tone. Fourteen minutes into his first start in 536 days, after an ACL injury wiped out all of last season, he curled a shot into the top corner against Coventry, the club where he grew up. Jack Rudoni levelled just after half time and the old story threatened to repeat itself, until Omar Marmoush restored the lead with his first goal for Spurs since arriving from Manchester City. Ben Davies added a third in the sixth minute of injury time.

The money makes the wait harder to explain. Reuters puts Spurs' summer spending at upwards of 308 million pounds as part of a major rebuild under Roberto De Zerbi, and this side had scored three league goals all season before Monday. It scored three in one night, which says the problem was never only the finishing. It was who was missing.

That is the other half of the story. Dejan Kulusevski came off the bench for his first competitive football in 526 days, and Reuters notes the cheer for his return may have been the biggest of the night. One win does not fix a season, and Chelsea away on Saturday is a very different test. But a team that gets its two main creators back on the same night is a different team from the one that sat bottom on Sunday.