Tottenham 3-1 Coventry: Maddison and Marmoush lift Spurs out of relegation zone

Tottenham they moved out of the relegation zone when they finished, finally ending the wait for a first Premier League win of the season by a shootout City of Coventry 3-1

Roberto De Zerbi’s men took the lead in stunning style as James Maddison marked his first start for 18 months by curling home from the edge of the area.

But there was an unconvincing nature about much of Spurs’ play afterwards and the home fans would have been forgiven for wondering if they were watching the same old frustrating story when Jack Rudoni equalized four minutes into the second half.

But Omar Marmoush allayed those fears just before the hour mark, scoring his first goal for the club in the far corner, before Ben Davies’ stoppage-time strike wrapped up the points, lifting Tottenham to 16th, one place above Coventry.

Frank Lampard’s visitors went into the game looking for a third straight win and started brightly, with Tatsuhiro Sakamoto going close early on when he saw a close-range strike deflected over the crossbar.

Coventry’s failure to find an early goal was punished by a player coming through their academy, Maddison marking his first start since May last year with a delicious effort that slotted into the top left corner.

Tottenham struggled to create clear-cut chances to double that lead, although Dominic Solanke squandered a great chance to do so when he fired over in a scrappy display that looked costly as Rudoni restored parity shortly after the second-half restart.

Rudoni took advantage of some awful defending from the hosts, reacting quicker after Brandon Thomas-Asante nodded his fizzing cross into the six-yard box, the midfielder squeezing his effort past Antonin Kinsky at the near post.

Sandro Tonali had a couple of efforts as Tottenham pressed to regain the lead, before Marmoush produced the precision required for Spurs as he opened his account in style.

The Egyptian inadvertently caught Milan van Ewijk on the arm as he turned on the edge of the box and curled an unerring strike past Carl Rushworth, with Coventry furious as his protests were dismissed by referee Andy Madley and then by VAR.

Marmoush later joined Tosin Adarabioyo and Mohammed Kudus to go off with apparent injuries. While these issues may leave De Zerbi with some cause for concern, there was cause for celebration as Dejan Kulusevsi made his long-awaited return from injury to help Spurs over the line.

Coventry’s late pressure frayed the home side’s nerves but Davies made the points safe when his effort with the outside of his boot screamed beyond Rushworth to seal a win that will boost hopes that Spurs have finally turned a corner under De Zerbi.

Premier League table

Upcoming matches of Tottenham and Coventry