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James Maddison scored a superbly curled goal on Monday night, just minutes after making his first Tottenham start since April 2025.
He tore his ACL in a pre-season friendly against Newcastle, having previously been hit with a serious injury to the same knee, and has suffered a number of setbacks on his way to full fitness.
But the 29-year-old was given the nod when newly promoted, upwardly mobile Coventry visited the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Monday night and he wasted no time establishing himself in the match.
With just 14 minutes on the clock he received a lateral pass from Mohammed Kudus and struck first time, bending a superb shot over the outstretched hand of Carl Rushworth into the top right corner.
He left in a subdued celebration, but received the admiration of his teammates, who knew very well the experience he had gone through in recent months.
WATCH: Maddison opens the scoring in style on first start since April 2025
Speaking ahead of this match, Zerbi suggested that he expects Maddison to continue to improve at an exponential rate as he gets more minutes under his belt.
“You have to play a lot of games to reach the best physical condition,” he explained. “But there are players capable of being important even if they play 10-15-20 minutes and James is one such player.”
There is another long-term absentee in Tottenham’s squad tonight, with Dejan Kulusevski making the matchday squad for the first time since May 2025.
He is out with a complex patella injury, and is set to make his first competitive appearance since against the Sky Blues.
