LONDON (AP) — Tottenham beat Coventry City 3-1 at home for its first win of the season and climbed off the bottom of the Premier League table on Friday.
James Maddison’s sublime strike against his boyhood club 14 minutes into the game put Spurs in the driving seat. Coventry equalized early in the second half but Omar Marmoush’s curling shot put the home side ahead again and Ben Davies sealed all three points in stoppage time.
Spurs had lost three and drawn three coming into the match and there was a real worry that the London club might face a relegation battle like last season, when it escaped on the final day.
This long-awaited win will not allay those fears but the grit involved against a plucky Coventry will give Spurs fans hope the season can now kick on.
Maddison missed all of last season with an anterior cruciate ligament injury and his return for a first start in 536 days was key, the former Coventry player sending a curving strike into the top corner early on.
“I can’t really describe the feeling when the ball hit the net,” he said. “Those are the ones that are a bit blurry. They are the ones you dream of during those dark days with the ACL.
“I just wanted to show my quality and show what the team’s missed in the last 18 months since my last start.”
The goal put Spurs in the driving seat but their inability to add to the tally looked like it might haunt them after Jack Rudoni drew Coventry level four minutes into the second half.
Goalkeeper Antonín Kinský got a hand on his close-range shot but could not stop it squirming into the net.
However, Marmoush’s lovely strike — his first Spurs goal since signing from Manchester City in the summer — calmed nerves at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and Davies’ low drive in the sixth minute of injury time relieved all tension in north London.
Spurs rose four places to 16th. Coventry was one place behind.
“I’m very disappointed,” Coventry boss Frank Lampard said. “I thought we were really good in our performance, which is hard to say after a 3-1 defeat. The third goal is a mistake, but it distorts the picture of the game. The players showed a belief and we were a threat until the end.”
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The Associated Press