A win. Wow, can you remember what that feels like? For the first time since the end of last season in the Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur tasted the sweet feeling of all three points on Monday evening.
At long last, Roberto De Zerbi has generated some positivity. Spurs are back scoring goals and they’re back picking up points.
Their performance a week prior against Manchester United deserved more than they got, and they were good value for a 3-1 win this week too.
All of that was capped off by the return of Dejan Kulusevski.
How Kulusevski fared vs Coventry City
There had been fears that Kulusevski may not play for Spurs again. Heck, there had even been thoughts that he might not play football at all.
526 days after picking up an injury, the Swede finally returned to the pitch on Monday night, a year and a half after Ange Postecoglou played down fears he would be out for a while.
“The medical team are not too concerned with him, it’s more of a knock than anything else, so we’re hoping he should be okay.” Well, we all know how that turned out.
Fortunately, he is now back, and we got a sight against Coventry of the player they have missed.
Deki had just three minutes plus injury time to make an impact but all nine of his touches were roared as if Spurs had just won the Champions League.
With those nine touches, he did look positive as Tottenham tried to get up the pitch in the dying embers. We saw a few glimpses of the Kulusevski of old as he drove forward down the right-hand side.
He completed all four of his passes, was fouled once and completed two progressive carries during a sprightly cameo. The worry after such a long injury was that he may have lost some pace and explosiveness. That did not look like the case earlier this week.
Why Kulusevski’s return is such good news for Spurs
Those quotes from Postecoglou rather defy belief. Little did we know at the time that the 26-year-old would miss the entirety of the 2025/26 season.
While Tottenham’s problems extended beyond the missing Kulusevski last term, it is unlikely they would have been staring relegation in the face if the attacker had been fit.
After all, this was a player who had scored ten goals and assisted 11 during Ange’s final season in north London.
The simple fact is that on his day, Kulusevski is one of Spurs’ best players; of course they were going to miss him. He had just enjoyed the best campaign of his career before injury cruelly robbed him of an entire season.
He’s a creative marvel. In 20245/25, no player created more chances (65) in the entire team. For big chances, only Heung-min Son (16) and Pedro Porro (10) produced more than Kulusevski (9).
So, once the former Juventus man is up to speed, you can expect Tottenham’s chance creation to improve significantly. You can also expect more goals, something De Zerbi is crying out for.
Tottenham have found a homegrown Kulusevski
While Spurs may well be down in the bottom half of the table again, there’s certainly a bit more positivity engulfing the football club right now. Kulusevski’s return to full fitness has helped in that regard.
Last summer’s transfer business has also played a part. While it took the likes of Sandro Tonali and Omar Marmoush a while to get up to speed, they are now finally off and running.
Tonali provided the assist for Dominic Solanke’s equaliser at Old Trafford while Marmoush scored a lovely goal against Coventry just a matter of days ago.
There’s plenty of reasons to be positive and that’s without even considering what Tottenham have in reserve.
We are yet to truly see Mykhailo Mudryk in action while we’re still awaiting the best of Mateus Fernandes and Savio. Lest we forget a certain Luca Williams-Barnett, either.
You name them, and he plays like them. In a pre-season game with MK Dons, the 18-year-old looked like Mousa Dembele with the way he carried the ball and sprayed long passes around from a deep-lying midfield role. But he’s also a bit like Dele Alli, raw and exciting with plenty of goals in his locker.
|
Williams-Barnett v MK Dons |
|
|---|---|
|
Minutes played |
45 |
|
Touches |
33 |
|
Accurate passes |
20/22 (91%) |
|
Key passes |
3 |
|
Shots |
1 |
|
Successful dribbles |
2/6 |
|
Carries |
14 |
|
Duels won |
3/8 |
As it happens, there’s something of a Kulusevski about him too. He’s versatile, he’s creative, he’s brilliant in tight spaces, and he’s capable of dribbling with the ball over long distances without losing it. Capable of playing on the flanks or in midfield, much like Kulusevski, the future is certainly bright.
Last season, he scored 16 goals in 19 academy games so he is banging down the door for more opportunities. It surely won’t be long before those chances come.
Indeed, Williams-Barnett was on the bench on Monday night and while he has only played 15 minutes of first-team football, he is incredibly highly rated.
It’s clear what his teammates and the manager think about him. On Monday, as he made his way back to the bench after a half-time warm-up, he was stopped by goalscorer James Maddison. The England man put his arm around him and they engaged in a long chat.
De Zerbi thinks the world of him too. Speaking before the draw with United, he said: “He’s another special player. But he’s very young, and the management of the very, very young players is very complicated because sometimes you want to do what’s best for the players (and) for you, but you are not doing what’s best for the player. I think we arrived at the moment when Luca would play because he’s special.”
Regular first-team football is surely on the horizon soon. In pre-season, he was exceptional, scoring a panenka penalty in a shoot-out win and scoring against Hoffenheim.
After a spellbinding performance versus Auckland, Mikey Moore described him as an “unbelievable footballer”. Monday night’s goalscorer, Ben Davies, has also asserted that he is “a really top player”. It seems that every man, woman, child and their dog is raving over the teenager.
De Zerbi must let him off the leash ASAP.
