Maddison ends 536-day absence with wonder goal as Spurs climb off the bottom

James Maddison ended a 536-day absence from Premier League football with a stunning curling strike as Tottenham defeated Coventry City 3-1 at home to claim Roberto De Zerbi’s first league win of the season and move off the bottom of the table.

Maddison, whose Spurs career had been effectively frozen by a serious ACL knee injury, made his first top-flight start since 27 April 2025 in a fixture loaded with personal significance — he was born in Coventry and began his career at the club he faced on Tuesday night. The travelling Coventry supporters booed his every touch, but Maddison answered with the game’s opening goal, collecting a pass from Mohammed Kudus on the edge of the box and curling a first-time shot into the top corner past keeper Carl Rushworth.

De Zerbi had made five changes and switched to a back three ahead of the match, a reshuffle that followed a warm-weather training camp in Marbella. The tactical gamble initially looked shaky when Jack Rudoni levelled for Coventry shortly after the restart, but Omar Marmoush restored Tottenham’s advantage on 58 minutes to settle the home crowd at a sold-out Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, where 60,913 fans were in attendance.

The evening produced a second comeback story when Dejan Kulusevski emerged to warm up in the first half to a roar from the stands. The Sweden forward had not featured for Spurs since sustaining a serious knee injury in May 2025, and his introduction off the bench was met with a brilliant reception. Ben Davies then put the result beyond doubt with a stoppage-time goal to complete a 3-1 victory.

The win could hardly have come at a better time for De Zerbi, whose side had started the night propping up the Premier League. Maddison’s £40 million arrival more than three years ago had promised much, but injuries had repeatedly interrupted his impact. His performance against his boyhood club offered the clearest reminder yet of the quality Tottenham have been missing — and a timely signal that he may finally be ready to deliver on that promise.